McCain says concerns over Cruz citizenship legitimate

Cruz sounded off in a CNN interview downplaying the issue and blaming the media for engaging in “silly sideshows“.

“There is a question“, McCain said in an interview with the Steve Merrill Show (via Andrew Kacyznski of BuzzFeed News), about whether Cruz’s birth “on foreign soil” disqualifies him.

Cruz, who was born to an American mother and Cuban father, defended himself to CNN’s Dana Bash.

He went on: “The legal issue is straightforward”, he said, calling it a “non-issue”. “The very first Congress defined the child of a USA citizen born overseas as a natural-born citizen”. However, with Cruz already campaigning alongside evangelical pastors throughout those Southern states, Rubio will need something more substantive than this TV ad to prove his Christian bona fides. Cruz spoke at Praise Community Church in Mason City, Iowa, where he is on the fifth day of a six-day bus tour across the state.

Cruz has climbed the polls in recent months, rising to front-runner in Iowa and emerging as a leader in the pack behind Trump in New Hampshire. Trump’s megaphone alone makes such talk potentially damaging; voters value electability and even Cruz supporters on hand in Pocahontas agreed that they’re a bit squeamish.

“I would note, if you’re a DACA recipient it means that you were brought here illegally, and violating the laws has consequences”, Cruz said. “I don’t think it’s illegitimate to look into it!”

But Trump, who famously challenged President Obama’s birthplace and eligibility years ago, dredged up the same issue with Cruz earlier this week, warning it could lead to a drawn-out court case. Cruz cited other similar examples, including Senator John McCain.

Still, he wouldn’t utter a cross word about the national Republican front-runner, refusing to mention Trump by name. Constitutional scholars have said Cruz’s citizenship will not be an issue. “People will continue to make political noise about it but as a legal matter it is straight-forward”. Under U.S. law, anyone born to an American mother is granted U.S. citizenship even if the birth takes place outside the country.

Surging Republican presidential candidate and Texas Sen.

Trump has called Cruz’s eligibility to be president into question since the Texas senator was born in Canada.

The three main requirements to become USA president include being at least 35-years-old, being a resident for a minimum of 14 years, and to be a “natural born citizen“. This time around, he is banging the infamous “birther” drum against one of his strongest rivals for the Republican nomination – the Canadian-born senator Ted Cruz.

I say this as someone who could scarcely be more concerned about the prospect of President Cruz.

“The amusing thing about politics, it’s fairly unusual for your opponents who are running for the same position to be actually trying to help you”, Cruz countered. “I would like to see Ted do something where maybe he goes in a preemptive fashion into court to try and get some kind of an order because I would not like to see that happen”.