President Trump promotes ‘totally baseless’ birth conspiracy theory against Nikki Haley

DES MOINES, Iowa — Donald Trump, chief promoter of false “birther” claims, first against then-President Barack Obama and then against Sen. Ted Cruz, has a new target. My name is Nikki Haley.

As Haley’s support soars in New Hampshire polls, President Trump posted on his Truth social account that his Republican rival Haley was not eligible to be president because her parents were not U.S. citizens at the time of her birth. He posted an article on his Truth social account claiming that there is no such thing.

Haley was born in South Carolina and lives in the United States. her whole life. Her parents were immigrants who became citizens after she was born in 1972.

Professor Emeritus of Harvard Law School: “The birther’s claims against Nikki Haley have absolutely no legal or constitutional basis.” Lawrence Tribe wrote in an email. “Unless Trump, as a woman of color, plays the race card against a former governor and U.N. ambassador, and taps into sources of anti-immigrant bigotry by reminding everyone of Haley’s claims, I can’t imagine what she hopes to gain by making the claim.” Her parents were not American citizens when she was born in the United States. ”

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” are citizens. This system was established after the Civil War to grant citizenship to formerly enslaved black Americans.

“Someone should tell him [Trump] Bart Newborn, professor emeritus at New York University School of Law and founding legal director of the Brennan Center for Justice, joked that the North won the Civil War.

“If you were born in the United States, the purpose of the 14th Amendment is to make you a citizen,” he added.

To be eligible for the presidency, a person must be a “natural-born citizen,” at least 35 years old, and have lived in the country for at least 14 years.

President Trump has called for stripping the children of illegal immigrants of their “birthright citizenship.”

The Trump campaign asked questions about his social media posts, but had no further statement.

Haley’s campaign also did not respond to requests for comment.

President Trump has frequently directed his birthright claims to people of color.

In 2020, President Trump amplified a similar theory against Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris was born in the United States to Jamaican and Indian immigrant parents.

Mr. Trump’s popularity on the far right has increased in large part because of his vocal support for a conspiracy theory centered around the claim that Mr. Obama was not qualified to be president because he was not born in Hawaii. In 2011, President Trump perpetuated the false claim that Obama’s birth certificate was fake.

And eight years ago, Mr. Trump took the same course in an effort to overwhelm Mr. Cruz (R-Texas), then his rival for the Republican presidential nomination. President Trump argued that although Cruz was born in Canada, his mother was a U.S. citizen at the time, making him ineligible to serve in the White House.

Mr. Trump attacked Mr. Cruz incessantly and repeatedly during the primary campaign, using his birther claims. blackmailed To Sue [Cruz] “I am not a natural-born citizen,” but he never followed through on that threat. However, Trump supporters often used Cruz’s birthplace to attack his presidential bid.

At the time, legal scholars rejected this argument outright. Neil Katyal, acting attorney general under Obama, and Paul Clement, acting attorney general under President George W. Bush, disagreed with this argument in a 2015 Harvard Law Review.

“However, as Congress has recognized since the founding of the United States, persons born abroad to American parents are generally American citizens by birth and do not need to be naturalized. “The expression ‘nationals of the country’ encompasses all such nationals from birth,” they wrote.

Joyce Vance, an MSNBC columnist and former federal prosecutor, called Trump’s suggestion that Haley was unfit to serve as “offensive,” but said it would ultimately lead to a more serious issue in court. He also pointed out that there is a possibility.

“This is an offensive question that goes against American values,” she said. “The Founding Fathers imposed restrictions, but it’s hard to believe they were intended to burden second-generation Americans born on American soil like Nikki Haley. But nevertheless… First, the issue of the term “natural-born citizen” has not been well fleshed out in the courts, and just as he did with the birthright lie about Obama, Trump is pushing us further in this area into a pointless debate. Maybe it’s pushing them to. ”