Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina weighed in on what she called the “odd” circumstances of her Canadian-born rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’s citizenship on Thursday.
In an interview on Fox News’ “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren,” Fiorina said: “I find it odd that Sen. Ted Cruz did not renounce his duel Canadian citizenship until 2014 when it became clear he was running for president.”
Cruz, who has faced questions about his eligibility to run for president before, dismissed this week’s birther chatter as “political noise.”
Speaking to reporters in Iowa on Wednesday, the Texas senator said, “as a legal matter, the question is quite straightforward and settled law that the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen.”
Cruz’s problem hinges on the definition of “natural born citizen,” a Constitutional requirement to be eligible to run for president. The term is generally understood by legal scholars to refer to anyone who became a citizen at birth—like Cruz, whose mother is an American citizen—and did not have to go through a naturalization process.
But some strict constitutionalists argue that this definition is not explicitly spelled out in the Constitution.
As Fiorina told Fox’s Van Susteren: “There are both legal scholars and others who think this is, perhaps, a legitimate issue.”
The issue came under renewed scrutiny this week after GOP candidate Donald Trump cast doubt on Cruz’s eligibility to serve as commander-in-chief. He was soon joined by conservative pundit Ann Coulter, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
