|
August 24, 2009 - Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) today gave the following statement in light of multiple erroneous reports incorrectly stating that he was considering the pursuit of a lawsuit over the issue of President Obama's long-form birth certificate:
"Unfortunately some of my statements in the recent past have been misrepresented to say that I am currently considering pursuing a lawsuit in an effort to force President Obama to disclose his original, long-form birth certificate. The truth is that I had, at one time, considered the possibility of filing a lawsuit back when the issue was first brought to my attention prior to Mr. Obama being sworn into office. However, after a significant amount of research was done by my office, I came to the conclusion that the bulk of the evidence indicated that Barack Obama was indeed physically born in the state of Hawaii after it had become a State and is therefore a natural-born citizen; and that there was NOT a sufficient basis to file a lawsuit. My position remains unchanged since that time. Additionally, federal courts have rejected almost 20 different lawsuits brought on this subject.
"That being said - it makes no sense to me for the President of the United States, who ran on a platform of transparency and accountability, to so blatantly hold in contempt the sincere questions and concerns of literally millions of the people he serves and represents when he could so easily satisfy those concerns over his eligibility to hold the highest office in the country. How can President Obama ask Americans to trust him on critical issues like healthcare reform, energy, and government spending, when he continues to be so dismissive of taking one easy step to cultivate their trust by releasing his long form birth certificate? The continued reluctance on the part of the President to even respectfully address this issue increasingly raises the question in the minds of many Americans whether he cares about having the trust of the people and whether he is going to actually deliver on the promises of "transparency" he promised to the American people during his campaign."
Congressman Franks has also gone on record as believing that every Presidential candidate should be required to show proof that he fulfills the two mandatory, Constitutional requirements for President of the United States - that he/she be at least 35 years of age, and a natural-born, U.S. citizen. To that end, he is now a cosponsor of H.R. 1503, introduced by Rep. Bill Posey, which would require any candidate for election to the office of President provide a copy of his/her birth certificate, together with such other documentation as may be necessary to establish that the candidate meets the qualifications for eligibility to the Office of President under the Constitution.
|
|
