Cruz: Questions About Citizenship Are 'Political Noise'

Donald Trump has repeatedly implied this week that there might be a question as to whether the Canadian-born Ted Cruz is legally able to be president. On Wednesday, Cruz issued his first non-tweet-based response. “As a legal matter the question is quite straightforward and settled law, that the child of a US citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen," the Dallas Morning News quotes Cruz outside a campaign stop in Iowa. "People will continue to make political noise about it, but as a legal matter it’s quite straightforward." He pointed to John McCain (born in Panama), George Romney (born in Mexico), and Barry Goldwater (born in Arizona before it was a state) as examples of other "natural born" citizens who weren't actually born in the US.

The White House also got in on the Cruz controversy on Wednesday. The Hill quotes press secretary Josh Earnest, who noted "it would be quite ironic" if Republicans nominated Cruz after the birther conspiracy that dogged President Obama. “I don’t know if he does, but I sure do," Earnest responded when asked by a reporter if Obama was enjoying seeing Cruz dealing with similar questions over his birthplace. Cruz was born in Alberta but moved to the US when he was 4, the Morning News reports. He had dual citizenship until 2014, when he formally renounced his Canadian citizenship (More Ted Cruz stories.)