Trump says rival Cruz's Canadian birthplace could be 'big problem' -Washington Post

By Emily Stephenson
WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Republican presidential
front-runner Donald Trump has waded back into the topic of
eligibility for the U.S. presidency, telling the Washington Post
that rival Ted Cruz could run into trouble if he won the party's
nomination because he was born in Canada.
Trump, the real-estate billionaire, had previously demanded
that President Barack Obama prove he was born in the United
States. He appeared to re-enter that "birther" arena with his
latest comments, which were published on Tuesday.
Trump dominated the Republican pack in a recent
Reuters/Ipsos national poll, but Cruz leads the field in Iowa,
the first state to hold its presidential nominating contest next
month ahead of the November 2016 election.
Trump told the Post he was not attacking Cruz, simply
repeating chatter he had heard about Cruz's birthplace. But he
said it could cause problems, including potential court
challenges.
"Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the
question: 'Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court
for two years?' That'd be a big problem," Trump was quoted as
saying in an interview with the Post. "You don't want to be
running and have that kind of thing over your head."
Presidents must be "natural-born citizens" under the U.S.
Constitution. Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, but his mother
was a U.S. citizen, which he says meets the requirements to run.
Previous presidential candidates, such as Republican U.S.
Senator John McCain, who were born outside the United States to
parents who were citizens, were also considered eligible. McCain
was born in the then U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone.
Cruz dismissed the comments on Tuesday with a lighthearted
tweet implying Trump's remarks were far-fetched.
He linked to a video of the "jumping the shark" scene from a
1977 episode of the television show "Happy Days" in which the
character Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water skis. The
phrase has come to indicate when a fading TV show does something
outrageous or silly to grab attention.
Cruz has avoided engaging with Trump's critiques so far.
Trump has questioned how Cruz's evangelical Christian faith fits
with his Cuban heritage and criticized his opposition to ethanol
subsidies.
Trump also raised questions about Cruz's birthplace early in
2015, but later backed down and said he thought the senator was
eligible to run.