Posted on 01/28/2016 2:26:49 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said on Thursday that his candidate would be "happy" to debate Ted Cruz once the Texas senator gets a federal judge to rule him eligible to run for president.
"Once you've gotten that ruling from the federal judge and you're the last man standing in this presidential contest next to Donald Trump, we'll be happy to have a debate with you one-on-one, anywhere you want, because that's the way the system works," Lewandowski said. "But, as it stands right now, we don't even know if Ted Cruz is legally eligible to run for president of the United States."
Trump and his supporters have argued that Cruz, who was born in Canada to a U.S. citizen, is not natural born and therefore ineligible to run for president under the Constitution.
Cruz challenged Trump to debate him one-on-one after Trump announced that he would not be attending the Fox News Republican presidential debate Thursday night because of objections to the presence of anchor Megyn Kelly and a statement Fox issued in response to his complaints. "What this is, is a publicity stunt by Senator Cruz who is continuing to fall in the polls in the state of Iowa," Lewandowski told Boston radio host Jeff Kuhner, before unleashing a slew of attacks at Cruz, arguing that he had used "dark money donors" through his super PAC to offer a donation to charity if Trump agreed to the debate.
"If Ted Cruz were able to disclose the loans that he's taken out from Goldman Sachs and Citi, then maybe he would use his own money for this, but instead he's using super PAC money which I don't even know if he can do legally," Lewandowski said, referring to loans Cruz took out during his 2012 run for Senate that he did not disclose in campaign filings. "And the bottom line is, you know what we've said to Ted Cruz, go into court, seek a declaratory judgment to find out if you're even legally eligible to run for president of the United States." In the interview, Lewandowski addressed his remark that Megyn Kelly had a "rough couple of days after that last debate" and "would hate to have her go through that again," which some at Fox News interpreted as a threat.
"That's not a threat. It's a factual statement," Lewandowski said. "And the bottom line, was, she did have a rough couple days after the debate because what she did during that first presidential debate was she made sure the debate was about her and not about the candidates who were actually on the stage."
Toward the end of the interview, Lewandowski took another shot at Cruz, this time over Cruz's criticism of Trump's support for eminent domain. Lewandowski said that eminent domain would be required to build the Keystone Pipeline, which Cruz supports. "The Keystone Pipeline, as you know, starts where Ted Cruz was born, in the country of Canada, and runs right down to where he lives now, in the state of Texas, and eminent domain is an issue that you know what unfortunately, sometimes you need to use it to get projects like that done," Lewandowski said.
It's a bit up to the courts, but assuming SCOTUS decides the issue is judiciable (and there is a ton of case law on that question, bascially amounting to the court can do what it feels like at the moment), the power is in Article III.
The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution ...
Qualification for president is a constitutional issue.
And you are assuming facts not in evidence.
Trumps parents ere both citizens of the USA at the time of his birth, how do you figgur?
Eggs Ackley! I don’t dislike him at all, but, Like Donald, I think he needs to get this straightened out right now!
Nope. Both of Trump's parents were American citizens when he was born.
Cruz needs to settle this issue. I don’t know how, but he MUST do it!
The Senate Resolution declaring McCain eligible (he still isn’t) relied upon BOTH his parents being citizens (jus sanguine) ignoring the fact that he wasn’t born here (jus soli).
Born here of citizen parents.
No posibility of being anything but a US citizen.
That’s what it means to NATURALLY be a natural born citizen.
Funny how you never get replies to your posts....facts are killer arguments.
Great job!
So did Ted fill out papers renouncing his cuban citizenship, or is he still cuban?
Why should Trump waste his own money on someone who likely is not going to win? That is the difference between a capitalist and a politician. No sense wasting money unless there is a risk of losing.
Depends on the laws of the country.
Fact is Cruz held dual citizenship.
The moment he renounced his Canadian citizenship he became eligible.
-- Is Ted Cruz a US Citizen? Yeah? Then shut up and vote for him. --
That works if you are voting for Congress or senator. But for president, a naturalized citizen is certainly not qualified.
-- I see way too many FReepers who can't even agree that Ted's a legal citizen. --
I only see one or two argue that with a straight face, and they have a substantial blind spot, to put it charitably.
-- No wonder there's such immature arguing here. Ignorance seems overwhelming here sometimes. --
Human nature. Same with every issue I see debated here. Ignorance outweighs informed opinion about by about a thousand to one.
If I am reading all of the quotes correctly, I don’t see one where Donald Trump says, “I don’t think Ted Cruz CAN run for President.” Everything I see is along the lines of, “I think Ted Cruz should get this resolved before the Democrats sue and claim he is not eligible.” Does somebody have a reference that proves my statement wrong? Thanks.
LOL his writers certainly have a wild sense of humor.
The whole thing was a head-fake. There was no Megyn Kelly. That was a feint. Trump needed a dramatic reason, a theatrical reason, to walk out of the last debate. Megyn Kelly was the most convenient tool at his disposal to do so. And she worked perfectly. Because everyone gleefully volunteered to be suckered in by the head-fake, the rope-a-dope, and jump all over Trump with the joyous accusations of *afraid of a girl*, *afraid to debate*, and basically ignore the walk-away as the supreme act of *independent leadership* that it was.
An act that pulled Huckabee and Santorum, the previous two Iowa winners, into his corner (or at least into his arena) just days before the Iowa vote and, in an instance of incredible irony, at the same time as the main-table debate after they both came off the kiddie-table debate.
They move from the kiddie table to the central arena, an arena that makes the main debate something less than the kiddie debate!
Huckabee and Santorum get their revenge on the Big Boys and lend last-minute historical Iowa star power to Trump.
But as good as that is for Trump, even better is the one-on-one debate challenge from Cruz, which never would have occurred if Trump had slogged his way through another dreary #7 but now allowed him to say WITH THE FULL MEGAPHONE OF TOTAL MEDIA ATTENTION:
When a judge says you are eligible, then a one-on-one is ok.
Check and mate.
Masterful.
Hard to tell who Trump is more afraid of, facing Megyn Kelly or debating Ted Cruz.
He didn't fill out any formal renunciation, and I don't think he has to. His right to Cuban citizenship, like his right to US citizenship, depends on him claiming it. He's entitled to it.
I think his right to Cuban citizenship might be "difficult" under Cuban law, given his near lifelong attachment to the US, and Cuban constitution not recognizing dual citizenship.
That "dual citizenship" issue doesn't play at birth - Cuba will take the child who has citizenship on birth abroad to a Cuban parent.
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