Trump: Cruz's Canadian birth could be a 'big problem'
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
It feels a bit like déjà vu: Instead of challenging President Obama on his birthplace, Donald Trump is now questioning whether Canadian-born Ted Cruz can be president.
During an interview with The Washington Post, Trump said if his fellow Republican presidential candidate becomes the nominee, he could find himself "tied up in court" for years. "That'd be a big problem," he said. "It'd be a very precarious one for Republicans because he'd be running and the courts may take a long time to decide. You don't want to be running and have that kind of thing over your head." Cruz was born in Calgary in 1970, and his mother was a U.S. citizen; under the U.S. Constitution, the president must be a "natural-born citizen," and anyone born to a U.S. citizen is granted citizenship regardless of where the birth occurs.
Of course, Trump said, he's not the one talking about the validity of a Cruz presidency. "People are bringing it up," he said. Trump would "hate to see something like that get in his way," but he knows that "some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport." Trump made his comments before a rally Monday in Iowa, a state where polls are showing Cruz closing in on frontrunner Trump.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Trump wants a weaker dollar but economists aren’t so sureTalking Points A weaker dollar can make imports more expensive but also boost gold
-
Political cartoons for February 3Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include empty seats, the worst of the worst of bunnies, and more
-
Trump’s Kennedy Center closure plan draws ireSpeed Read Trump said he will close the center for two years for ‘renovations’
-
Trump sues IRS for $10B over tax record leaksSpeed Read The president is claiming ‘reputational and financial harm’ from leaks of his tax information between 2018 and 2020
-
Trump, Senate Democrats reach DHS funding dealSpeed Read The deal will fund most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
