Trump Calls into Question Cruz's Canadian Birth
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Berman.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kate Bolduan. New this morning, or maybe what's old is new once again, the birther question has re-entered the presidential race. Donald Trump is calling into question Ted Cruz's eligibility to be president because Ted Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban father and an American mother. In an interview with "The Washington Post," Trump says that should make GOP voters think twice about voting for Cruz. He's quoted as saying this, "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 said this to New Hampshire affiliate, NH1.</s>DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: People are worried that if he weren't born in this country -- which he wasn't, he was born in Canada, and he actually had a Canadian passport along with a U.S. passport until just recently. I mean, like within the last couple of years. So I don't know what it all means.</s>BERMAN: So what does Ted Cruz have to say about all this? Well, he literally says these charges have jumped the shark. And he literally tweeted a link to this YouTube video of Fonzie jumping the shark on "Happy Days." Thank goodness he made it. Cruz has a live event in just a few minutes in Iowa. Will he push this response even further? Perhaps another reference to pop culture? CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is on the trail with Cruz in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Sunlen, what do we expect? SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT; John, right now, as you referenced, Ted Cruz really is trying to laugh this off, trying to have a little fun with it. Defuse the situation by using humor, something that he typically tries to do, especially with Donald Trump. He really doesn't want to get bogged down into the mix with Donald Trump, especially over something like this. So as we saw last night, Ted Cruz almost immediately tweeted that response to that TV clip from "Happy Days" and that famous scene with Fonzie jumping a shark, widely seen as a metaphor for when that show took a turn and went downhill. That's as far as Ted Cruz really has specifically responded to this. But last night, he was certainly pressed by reporters here in Iowa about this situation. He said, look, other Republicans in the race will try to throw rocks and sling insults, but I'm really not going to get engaged in that. Here's more of what he said last night.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I tweeted out a response to Donald Trump's raising questions about my natural-born citizenship. It was a link to Fonzie jumping the shark. And I think I'm going to let my response stick with that tweet.</s>SERFATY: So very clear that Ted Cruz does not want to touch this right now. He does not want to engage with Donald Trump and mix it up over this. But with Trump really double down in a series of interviews this morning where he repeated this claim, repeated these questions about his citizenship, it's very clear that Ted Cruz will continue to get questions here throughout his bus tour here in Iowa -- John?</s>BERMAN: Indeed, he will. Sunlen Serfaty, in Iowa, thanks so much. Want to discuss this further with CNN political commentator and former communications director for Ted Cruz, Amanda Carpenter; and Dan Pfeiffer, former senior adviser to President Obama. Amanda, let me start with you. Ted Cruz, you didn't hear it there, but Ted Cruz says this is a media creation. The media is focused on these things, but no one else is. That's not really true. Donald Trump is saying this stuff, but he's now saying it repeatedly. The question to you is, why -- go ahead.</s>AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Donald Trump is the only one saying it. I mean, listen. This is a silly attack that deserves a silly response that he got with the video of the Fonz jumping the shark. The thing that boggles my mind is that everyone seems to forget that Donald Trump is the biggest, most well-known birther in America, and it started with Barack Obama. The fact that he's repeating this silly conspiracy theory against Ted Cruz shows how out of step Donald Trump is. And, Dan, I mean --</s>BOLDUAN: I don't think Dan's forgotten it.</s>BOLDUAN: I don't think Dan's forgotten it at all. You were there when this happened, Dan. Trump started this with President Obama. It didn't necessarily hurt him, but it did lead to Obama rolling out his birth certificate. So do you think this is the right response for Cruz? How should Cruz be taking this on?</s>DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right, well, look. Let me say to start that I think this is silly. It's stupid. I think it's unfortunate. I thought that when Donald Trump said it about President Obama. I feel the same way about him saying it about Ted Cruz. The advice I would give to the Cruz campaign, not that they're looking for it, is respond to this and respond aggressively because we didn't respond at first. We thought it was a media creation. We didn't pay attention. And by the end, a non-significant portion of Republican voters thought President Obama was ineligible to be president, that he was part of some conspiracy theory. So these things tend to take off in our digital social media stage and they've got to be prepared for it. I think the "jumping the shark" response is funny and good to start with, but he's going to have to do a lot more because I don't think Trump's going to let this go.</s>BERMAN: I saw Ann Coulter --</s>BERMAN: Hang on a minute. Ann Coulter put out a tweet where she clearly thinks that these questions are legitimate about whether Cruz is eligible to run for president. It is interesting to hear Dan say this because the White House went through this. President Obama went through this. And ultimately, he had to release his birth certificate to quiet the thing down. So might this leave a mark, Amanda?</s>CARPENTER: Well, I think the legal evidence is on Cruz's side, if anyone wants to look for it. There was an article I recommend that was written by two former solicitors general for both Barack Obama and president in "The Harvard Law Review" that clearly explains in a legal way why Ted Cruz is a natural-born U.S. citizen. You know, his mother was an American citizen, just because he was born in a Canadian hospital does not mean he's ineligible to become president. You know, the lawyers are on his side, if we want to go through this exercise, I think Ted Cruz would feel very confident stacking his lawyers against any lawyers that Donald Trump may produce.</s>BOLDUAN: Let's do it!</s>PFEIFFER: Well, it could raise questions for sure if it's not responded to correctly. Look, let me just state I think Ted Cruz is eligible for president. This is an absurd thing, but you'll have to respond to it. I was at a dinner this weekend and found myself in the very awkward position of arguing that Ted Cruz was eligible to be president of the United States because they had heard this rumor and were convinced that he was Canadian. It tends to stick. People see this in their Facebook feeds and on Twitter. In a close race, this could make a difference if it's not handled correctly.</s>BERMAN: The Constitution says you have to be a natural-born citizen. Just to be clear, almost every constitutional scholar you speak to says that means if you are born to an American parent. Ted Cruz's mother is American. She's from the United States. They were in Canada when Ted Cruz was born. But most people you talk to do say, you know, Ted Cruz has no eligibility issues. Let's say that right there. Amanda, I want to talk to you, move beyond this just a little bit because Ted Cruz has yet to respond to anything Donald Trump has said. And Trump has poked him a little bit. He's prodded a little bit ever since the Republican debate we were all at in Las Vegas. He's starting to do it, and Ted Cruz has held back. There are two more Republican debates before Iowa, less than four weeks to go. Does Cruz at some point need to take some kind of stand against Donald Trump?</s>CARPENTER: Well, here's the thing. Everyone wants Ted Cruz to take on Donald Trump. There's all kinds of establishment-type figures who are so angry that Ted Cruz isn't taking on Donald Trump. Well, Ted Cruz is the only one who's figured out, I think, how to handle Donald Trump. And that is that you don't engage. You don't get in the mud with Donald Trump. And you keep focus on your own priorities. Marco Rubio, I think, is also playing this pretty well, though Trump hasn't gone at him as hard. And so the thing is, I think candidates who want to win the GOP primary need to have their sights set on something much bigger than Donald Trump. The candidates who understand this are performing much better than the other candidates who took on Donald Trump and aren't even running anymore. When you look at Rick Perry, Governor Walker, you know, Rand Paul is still struggling along. That playbook does not work. Even though, you know, the media wants to see a fight. There's a lot of people that want to see a fight. That's not a winning strategy.</s>BOLDUAN: Dan, I was reminded that not only we talk about the birther issue with Barack Obama that came up in '08, in '08 John McCain faced questions as well. And to that point, in 2008, the Senate actually passed unanimously a resolution stating that John McCain was a natural-born citizen. Ted Cruz, also a Senator. Do you think that's going to happen this time?</s>PFEIFFER: I think this may be the point where Ted Cruz says poor relationships with Senate colleagues may come back to haunt him. But 2008 was a very different world. President Obama was clear that McCain was eligible. Everyone came and said it. It's a much different environment. Trump's involved. I think he'll keep trying to push this. I think Amanda is right, that there -- it is not in Ted Cruz's strategic interest to get in the mud with Trump. That's not worked well for anyone. Cruz's success depends in part on being Trump voters' second choice, if Trump doesn't make it out of Iowa or whatever else. But I think responding to this in a very factual, aggressive way and arming surrogates with the right information and being out there and doing it very quickly I think is critical to surviving this. I think this is the first real test of the Cruz candidacy to date, which has gone very well for him so far.</s>BERMAN: We will hear from Ted Cruz in about 20 minutes. Maybe he'll move from "Happy Days" to "Laverne & Shirley."</s>BOLDUAN: We will see.</s>BERMAN: They're walking in front.</s>BOLDUAN: Walking in front of you. Great to see you both. Thank you.</s>CARPENTER: Thank you.</s>BERMAN: Donald Trump, we should say, will join CNN's Wolf Blitzer today. Will he discuss this Canada issue? My hunch is, you bet. Tune into "The Situation Room," 5:00 eastern to find out only on CNN. All right. We have breaking news elsewhere today. North Korea claims it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb for the first time. How dangerous is this, and does Kim Jong-Un's upcoming birthday have anything to do with it?</s>BOLDUAN: And the first live TV interview on camera with Ben Carson's former campaign manager, just six days after he abruptly quit. His thoughts on Trump, the mudslinging, and his former boss. Also, the friend of the San Bernardino couple, the attackers in court very soon. But as he makes his plea, federal authorities still want to know what happened during a mystery 18 minutes after the terror attack. Are there more conspirators out there?