When the Barack Obama citizenship issue became a "scandal," many prominent figures commented publicly about the controversy. While some were diehard "birthers," the name given to citizenship skeptics, others were politicians or media personalities that saw fit to ask for clarification.
Here are eight key people who asked questions about Barack Obama's citizenship and fueled the scandal:
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1. Donald Trump: Billionaire real estate mogul and host of the NBC reality series, The Celebrity Apprentice, Trump became a vocal skeptic of President Obama's constitutional eligibility to be president. Trump was a potential 2012 presidential candidate and the "birther" issue garnered him significant media attention. In 2011, President Obama released the long-form version of his birth certificate and Trump was quick to credit the public pressure he put on the president for the release.
2. CNN Host Lou Dobbs: As a TV and radio host, Dobbs jumped headlong into the Obama citizenship scandal and used his media platforms to provide traction to the birther movement. At one point Dobbs responded to his critics calling them, "limp-minded, lily-livered lefties who attacked him only because he had the temerity to inquire as to where the birth certificate was and why the president of the United States would not turn over that birth certificate to the national media and end the noise," reports the
Huffington Post.
3. Orley Taitz: Lawyer, perennial political candidate and dubbed "Queen of the Birthers" Taitz represented plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging
Barack Obama was not a natural-born citizen of the United States. The plaintiffs asserted that Obama "maintains a fraudulently obtained social security number, a Hawaiian birth certificate that is a computer-generated forgery, and that he does not otherwise possess valid U.S. identification papers."
4. Liz Cheney: Daughter to former Vice President Dick Cheney, attorney, and political commentator, Cheney took heat for defending the birther movement. In an interview with Larry King, she said that the reason the birther movement exists is because, "People are uncomfortable with having, for the first time ever, I think, a president who is reluctant to defend the nation overseas."
Talking Points Memo reported Cheney later stated she does not have any question about Obama's right to be president.
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5. Dr. Alan Keyes: Political activist, former diplomat, and perennial political candidate in both senate and presidential races, Keyes filed a
lawsuit that included defendants President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and California Secretary of State Deborah Bowen. Keyes demanded that California be "barred from casting its electoral votes for Barack Obama until Obama can show "documentary proof" that he 'is a 'natural born' citizen of the United States and does not hold citizenship in Indonesia, Kenya or Great Britain."
6. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL: As reported by the Cullman Times, Shelby said, "Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president." The statement garnered the senator much media attention as a potential "birther." However, according to the
Huffington Post, Shelby later said the statement was a "distortion."
7. Rush Limbaugh: Radio host, entertainer and political pundit,
Limbaugh repeatedly discussed Barack Obama's citizenship scandal on his show. At one point Limbaugh said, "Do you think if this was me and they were trying to prove that I wasn't an American and I insisted that I was, but I couldn't produce a birth certificate or wouldn't, and yet the governor of Missouri says, 'Oh, yeah, there's a little notification, somebody wrote down Limbaugh was born here.' Do you think that would fly?"
8. Gov. Neil Abercrombie: Former governor of Hawaii, Abercrombie was caught up in the Barack Obama birth certificate scandal by virtue of his position in government.
ABC News reported that three weeks into his term as governor, Abercrombie claimed ending the conspiracy theories was a priority. "There's no reason on earth to have the memory of his parents insulted by people whose motivation is solely political."
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