Al Sharpton Misrepresents, Misinforms Audience on Arpaio’s Birth Certificate Comments

AND WHAT ABOUT THE FORGERY?

by Sharon Rondeau

(Aug. 21, 2013) — In a recent broadcast, NBC Commentator Al Sharpton discussed Sen. Ted Cruz’s release of his birth certificate showing that he was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on December 22, 1970.

Cruz’s eligibility for the presidency has become a topic of much discussion during the last week given that he was born in another country to one U.S.-citizen parent.  Commentators and legal scholars are divided on whether or not Cruz would meet the definition in Article II, Section 1, clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution of “natural born Citizen” which is required for candidates seeking the presidency.

“I wonder what people will look for?” Sharpton asked rhetorically in regard to Cruz’s birth document, then asked if it was “really necessary” to see Cruz’s documentation.  Sharpton then stated that “the experts” have declared Cruz eligible but did not point out that many say he is not.

Some scholars believe that when the Framers changed the requirement of simply “a Citizen” to “natural born Citizen,” they intended to avoid the possibility of foreign influence by divided allegiance in the person occupying the highest office in the land who would command the U.S. military.  While most Americans understand the term to mean “born in the country,” many scholars believe that a “natural born Citizen” means a person born in the United States to two U.S.-citizen parents. In 1916, attorney and former ambassador to Italy Breckinridge Long questioned the presidential eligibility of Charles Evans Hughes because his parents were British citizens at the time of his birth in the U.S., citing historical examples and Supreme Court cases which included the citizenship of the parents as a determining factor.

In 2008, the state of New Hampshire disqualified Sal Mohamed from running for president because he was born in a foreign country.

There has been inconsistency in considering various candidates’ eligibility given the “natural born Citizen” requirement.  For Obama, the standard of birth in the U.S. was said to be all that was required.  For Mitt Romney, his father’s birth in Mexico, even though his American citizenship was never questioned, was at issue.  Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Bobby Jindal each were born in the United States to two non-U.S.-citizen parents, respectively.  Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban-citizen father who naturalized in 2005.

Members of Congress have attempted to introduce proposals on at least eight occasions between 2003 and 2008 to legislate away the “natural born Citizen” clause without a formal amendment to the Constitution.  A law student who became employed at a firm which had donated to Obama called the “natural born Citizen” clause “a divisive requirement,” with the understanding that it meant “born in the United States.”

On Monday, Cruz appeared surprised that he apparently holds dual citizenship.  Whether or not a dual citizen can be considered “natural born” is an open question.  By his own admission, Obama also was born a dual citizen to Great Britain and the U.S.  Cruz announced on Tuesday that he would “renounce” his Canadian citizenship.

The motto of MSNBC is “Lean Forward.”  The station is known for its promotion of  “progressive” politics, which does not fall under the auspices of journalism.  One of its recent videos is named “Marching Forward for Civil Rights” and begins, “Liberals, progressives, workers, let’s get back to work.”

During the 1930s, the Hitler Youth Corps theme song was “Forward!”  Obama used the same campaign slogan in 2012.  In 1917, the Russian revolution was fought ostensibly to place control of the government in the hands of “workers,” or the proletariat.

In his broadcast, Sharpton attempts to “catch” “Republicans” in “hypocrisy” by their purported claim that Obama is not eligible for the presidency with a birth in Hawaii but that Cruz is eligible with a birth in Canada.  However, in an interview with ABC News, Trump said that if Cruz were born in Canada, he “perhaps was not eligible.”

Trump had publicly raised the question of Obama’s eligibility in early 2011, questioning why Obama had not released his long-form birth certificate showing the names of the hospital, attending physician and parents.  In an apparent response, on April 27, 2011, the White House released what it said was a certified copy of Obama’s long-form birth certificate, which his attorney, Judith Corley, allegedly traveled to Hawaii days before to retrieve.

At 1:17, Sharpton’s video montage shows Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio stating, “I cannot, in good faith, report to you that these documents are authentic,” then the screen switches back to Cruz’s birth certificate, thereby giving the impression that Arpaio was referring to that document.  In actuality, the clip was from one of two press conference given by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and its adjunct Cold Case Posse, which has worked for nearly two years and found after extensive investigation that Obama’s long-form birth certificate and Selective Service registration form are “computer-generated forgeries.”

Later, Sharpton clarifies that Arpaio’s and others’ comments were made in relation to Obama, but he does not say why Arpaio described Obama’s birth certificate as inauthentic.  Cold Case Posse lead investigator Mike Zullo has stated that the posse has found no evidence that Obama is even a U.S. citizen, let alone the higher standard of “natural born.”

One of Sharpton’s guests, Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, although expressing himself sarcastically at times, acknowledged at 6:08 that there has been a controversy about “Obama’s parents” possibly having committed “fraud or a fraudulent birth certificate.”  Milbank did not refer to the Cold Case Posse’s investigation and efforts to engage sufficient members of Congress in their own criminal investigation of the findings.

Articles written by others at The Post also do not acknowledge the findings of forgery and fraud by the Cold Case Posse.  Commentator Sean Hannity asked two guests with opposing views about Cruz’s eligibility and the “birther” issue but also did not discuss the forgery.  “It was never a big issue for me,” Hannity told his guests of Obama’s production of his birth certificate, and then said that once the image was posted, “the issue kind-of went away.”

Zullo has stated on air that Hannity is aware of the Cold Case Posse’s findings by virtue of the fact that Hannity had expressed a desire to invite Zullo on his show.  However, Hannity was reportedly prevented from reporting on the forgery.

Milbank opined that there is a “juicy scandal” in regard to Cruz’s birthplace and questionable eligibility.  He claimed that Cruz “created” a controversy because the facts show that he is “a dual citizen.”

Sharpton’s other guest, Angela Rye, took the same side as Sharpton and Milbank.  Sharpton called the questions about Obama’s and Cruz’s birth certificates “silliness,” as Obama had on April 27, 2011 when the White House released the long-form birth certificate image.   Rye acknowledged “the ‘birther'” controversy and addressed Sharpton as “Rev.”

During the discussion, both Rye and Milbank ignored Obama’s claimed foreign-citizen father, which some constitutional scholars say is enough to disqualify him from eligibility.  History demonstrates that citizenship was inherited by a child from his father, although some now insist that Cruz’s father’s citizenship makes no difference to his eligibility.

Milbank predicted that “the left” will not engage in the “silliness” of questioning Cruz’s eligibility.  Rye laughed when Millbank said that Sarah Palin “could see Canada” from her home in Alaska.

Rye said that Obama “looks a whole lot different than Senator Cruz” and referred to the Republicans’ purported attempt to appeal to “people of color.”  She stated that the difference between Obama and Cruz is that “Cruz really was not born here.”

With a fraudulent birth certificate, there is no proof of where Obama was born.

Millbank suggested that Cruz’s fellow Republicans would embrace “cutting him some slack,” apparently meaning that they would declare Cruz constitutionally eligible.

Rye said that she suspects that Republicans are “not going to be consistent” with the “birther” issue.

To some observers, the Cruz controversy appears to have been orchestrated by left-wing political operatives and may have been designed to disqualify him early on as a presidential candidate.

Sharpton uses his position at MSNBC to decry “the rage of the right-wing machine.”