Jeb Bush Defends Cruz From Birthers: He Doesn’t Have Eligibility Issues

Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during the Clinton County Republicans Annual Fall Event, Monday, Nov. 30, 2015, in Goose Lake, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday defended Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) from renewed skepticism that the Texas senator is eligible to run for president given that he was born in Canada.

When asked by Sean Hannity if Cruz has eligibility issues, Bush said, “No, I don’t. I’ll just leave it at that,” according to audio posted by Buzzfeed News.

Bush then criticized Donald Trump, who resurfaced doubts about Cruz’s citizenship this week, prompting others to cast doubt on the senator’s eligibility as well.

“You know this is what Trump does,” Bush said. “He says something and then he pulls back. ‘Well I didn’t say it, someone else said it. I’m just repeating what someone else said.’ Come on, man. Let’s get to the issues.”

Cruz has defended his eligibility this week and insists that the law is clear that he is able to run for president since he was born a U.S. citizen to an American mother, albeit in Canada.

Latest Livewire
5
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Not sure how much Calgary Cruz is going to benefit from being defended by Bush with all 3 people who are listening to him still…but I know I’m totally having a schadenfreude moment over this whole thing.

  2. Doesn’t Jeb ! realize nobody’s listening much to what he has to say…especially other GOPers?

  3. He’s not an idiot, which is the only qualification you need to know that a child of an American Citizen is eligible to be President (assuming Citizenship at time of birth).

  4. Since he didn’t renounce his Canadian citizenship until 2014, I have to wonder where his allegiances lie. He’s the perfect Candian Manchurian candidate. He’s going to come down here and install his Canadian agenda, force us to worship Don Cherry and drink Molson. Curling will become the national pastime.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for druid800 Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for liberal Avatar for johnbarleycorn

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: