Congressman Krishnamoorthi condemns Trump for alleged 'birther' claims against Nikki Haley

Washington: Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has condemned former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, for the alleged 'birther' claims against his primary challenger Nikki Haley.

Last week, Trump reposted a post from conservative The Gateway Pundit, which claimed that Haley might be ineligible to be the US president or the vice president as her parents were not a US citizen when she was born in 1972.

Indian-American Haley automatically became a US citizen as she was born in the country.

“It’s sadly no surprise that Donald Trump is back at it with more false and racist ‘birther’ claims,” Indian American Congressman Krishnamoorthi, who is a Democrat, said in a statement on Thursday.

“As a proud Indian American immigrant, the hateful attacks the former president is launching against Nikki Haley are all too familiar to me. Any Republican who claims to support the South Asian community should condemn this rhetoric,” Krishnamoorthi said.

As per the US Constitution, the qualifications to run for presidency are: They must be at least 35 years old, be a “natural-born” citizen and have been a resident of the United States for 14 years.

Section Three of the 14th amendment, approved after the Civil War, added that anyone who engaged in or aided an “insurrection” against the United States after taking an oath to support the Constitution was ineligible to “hold any office, civil or military,” The New York Times reported.

Trump had previously raised the question of the birth of former US President Barack Obama and the current vice president Kamala Harris. Trump has also called for an end to birthright citizenship.