Conservative author Ann Coulter criticized The New York Times on Wednesday for defending the idea that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is a natural-born citizen who’s eligible to run for the White House.
The New York Times on Wednesday reported that Cruz “was born in Canada and his mother was a United States citizen. Under the Constitution, this makes him a ‘natural born citizen’ who is eligible to run for president …”
The paper noted, however, that it’s a matter that has not been settled by the Supreme Court.
But Coulter, who has sided with front-runner Donald Trump, rejected that in a tweet that said the Times’ argument is “absolutely false.”
NYT: Cruz was born outside the U.S. to 1 American parent: “Under the Constitution this makes him a ‘natural born citizen.’” Absolutely false
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 6, 2016
Coulter also said she had been convinced that Cruz was eligible but that “lawyers I usually trust were playing fast and loose with the Constitution.”
Coulter first raised questions about Cruz’s eligibility in 2013. In a radio interview with Geraldo Rivera, she said lawyers would have to “look into it.”
But that same year, Coulter tweeted that Cruz can run for president, and seemed to say the opposite.
“I worried… @ his Calgary birth, but his mother was a US citizen, so he was born a citizen.”
In an interview that aired Wednesday on MSNBC, Trump said of Cruz, “Let’s assume he got a nomination and the Democrats bring suit, the suit takes two to three years to solve, so how do you run?” Trump is currently leading most polls for the GOP nomination. But Cruz is ahead in Iowa, where the first major contest will take place in February.
