Trump pushes false ‘birther’ claim about Haley’s parents
NIKKI HALEY has become the latest target of Donald Trump’s false “birther” claims after he alleged she is ineligible to become president because she was born to immigrant parents.
Ms Haley, 51, whose popularity appears to be surging according to recent polls, was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, after her parents emigrated from India.
Mr Trump’s claims about Ms Haley, a former US ambassador to the UN and governor of South Carolina, come after he spent years falsely claiming Barack Obama was ineligible to run.
Now the former president has reshared a post about Ms Haley on his own social media platform, Truth Social, which claimed: “Reports indicate that her parents were not US citizens at the time of her birth in 1972.” It added: “Based on the Constitution as interpreted by Paul Ingrassia, this disqualifies Haley from presidential or vice-presidential candidacy.”
However, Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor, said the claims “are totally groundless as a legal and constitutional matter”.
Samuel Issacharoff, a New York University law professor, said: “Nikki Haley was born in the United States. That’s the only constitutional requirement to be president. She has as much legal entitlement to run for president as he does.”
It comes as Chris Christie announced he is dropping his Republican presidential bid. The 61-year-old had been under intense pressure to bow out of the race to give Mr Trump’s rivals a chance to unite behind a viable alternative.
Mr Christie’s departure will likely give Ms Haley an extra boost in the New Hampshire primary this month.