![]() Donald Trump |
Now flamboyant billionaire Donald Trump, whose name has been surging past lesser-knowns among rumored candidates for the GOP's 2012 presidential nomination, says he has reason to wonder about Barack Obama's eligibility to be president.
Questions about Obama's qualifications under the U.S. Constitution's requirement that a president be a "natural born Citizen" have been around since before he was elected: Multiple cases have been filed in court, a military officer has been sent to prison over the issue and significant numbers of the American population have major doubts about his story of being born in Hawaii.
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Trump told ABC News that he probably will make a decision on his possible candidacy in June.
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He said his doubts about Obama stem from the fact that so little information about his background is available.
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"He grew up and nobody knew him. You know! When you interview people, if ever I got the nomination, if I ever decide to run, you may go back and interview people from my kindergarten. They'll remember me. Nobody ever comes forward [about Obama]. Nobody knows who he is until later in his life. It's very strange. The whole thing is very strange," he said.
While much of the concern centers on Obama's birth certificate – he's refused to release his original document, substituting instead a computer-generated summary of information purportedly in the Hawaii state archives – there are numerous other documents that remain unavailable.
These are the types of records that typically are available for major political leaders such as someone occupying the Oval Office. They include his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and his adoption records.
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According to CNN, Trump said, "Let me tell you, I'm a really smart guy. I was a really good student at the best school in the country. The reason I have a little doubt, just a little, is because he grew up and nobody knew him."
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie promised some weeks ago when he took office to investigate Obama's birth records in the state and release information to prove his eligibility status. However, Abercrombie ultimately abandoned his quest, explaining he was hindered by privacy laws.
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