By Jenna Johnson August 12 at 5:15 PM
Donald Trump’s unflinching antagonism toward illegal immigration has galvanized activists who have grown to mistrust politicians on the issue, even those who have claimed to be as committed to the cause as they are.
And yet, for some, there is one nagging question that the candidate seems content to let linger — whether Trump’s Slovenian-born wife followed the law when she moved to the United States.
“Let them go wild, let it simmer, and then let’s have a little news conference,” Trump said at a rally this week, describing his strategy for handling those asking about his wife.
Mark Krikorian, a leading activist against illegal immigration, does not want to let it simmer. He wants an answer.
“Immigration is a big issue, and she is going to be first lady,” Krikorian said. “It matters.”
Years before he ran for the White House, Trump built his political brand by accusing President Obama of concealing his past. Trump called on Obama to release his college applications, transcripts and other records, asking how such a “terrible student” got into Ivy League schools. The business executive also demanded that Obama release his passport records and, most famously, his birth certificate, declaring in a video released before the 2012 election: “We know very little about our president.”
But Trump has ensured that Americans know relatively little about him.
[Eight documents Trump has turned down requests to release]
He has refused to release many of the same documents that he demanded from Obama, including college transcripts and passport records. He has shirked the decades-old tradition of major nominees releasing their tax returns and other documentation to prove their readiness and fitness for office. And he has yet to release records showing why he received a medical deferment during the Vietnam War and whether he has actually donated the millions of dollars he claims to have given to charity.
While Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has hit Trump on his tax returns, saying this week that he “refuses to do what every other presidential candidate in decades has done,” Trump allies feel that Clinton has her own vulnerabilities when it comes to secrecy. Republicans have alleged that Clinton deleted thousands of emails from her private server to conceal favors done by her State Department for donors to her family’s charitable foundation — a charge Clinton has denied. And conservatives have called on Clinton, 68, to release her full medical records, citing a 2012 fainting episode in which she suffered a concussion. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and former GOP candidate, told Fox News this week that the information is “critical” for voters.
But Trump, in building a wall around his records, is setting a new standard for secrecy for modern-day candidates.
MORE @ SOURCE
Donald Trump’s unflinching antagonism toward illegal immigration has galvanized activists who have grown to mistrust politicians on the issue, even those who have claimed to be as committed to the cause as they are.
And yet, for some, there is one nagging question that the candidate seems content to let linger — whether Trump’s Slovenian-born wife followed the law when she moved to the United States.
“Let them go wild, let it simmer, and then let’s have a little news conference,” Trump said at a rally this week, describing his strategy for handling those asking about his wife.
Mark Krikorian, a leading activist against illegal immigration, does not want to let it simmer. He wants an answer.
“Immigration is a big issue, and she is going to be first lady,” Krikorian said. “It matters.”
Years before he ran for the White House, Trump built his political brand by accusing President Obama of concealing his past. Trump called on Obama to release his college applications, transcripts and other records, asking how such a “terrible student” got into Ivy League schools. The business executive also demanded that Obama release his passport records and, most famously, his birth certificate, declaring in a video released before the 2012 election: “We know very little about our president.”
But Trump has ensured that Americans know relatively little about him.
[Eight documents Trump has turned down requests to release]
He has refused to release many of the same documents that he demanded from Obama, including college transcripts and passport records. He has shirked the decades-old tradition of major nominees releasing their tax returns and other documentation to prove their readiness and fitness for office. And he has yet to release records showing why he received a medical deferment during the Vietnam War and whether he has actually donated the millions of dollars he claims to have given to charity.
While Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has hit Trump on his tax returns, saying this week that he “refuses to do what every other presidential candidate in decades has done,” Trump allies feel that Clinton has her own vulnerabilities when it comes to secrecy. Republicans have alleged that Clinton deleted thousands of emails from her private server to conceal favors done by her State Department for donors to her family’s charitable foundation — a charge Clinton has denied. And conservatives have called on Clinton, 68, to release her full medical records, citing a 2012 fainting episode in which she suffered a concussion. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and former GOP candidate, told Fox News this week that the information is “critical” for voters.
But Trump, in building a wall around his records, is setting a new standard for secrecy for modern-day candidates.
MORE @ SOURCE
