--- title: Trump Revives Concerns Over Nominating Canadian-Born Cruz description: Candidate suggests Republicans would be creating a problem for themselves if they nominate Cruz canonical: https://time.com/4169040/trump-cruz-canada/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-06T11:26:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:49:00.144Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Revives Concerns Over Nominating Canadian-Born Cruz og:description: Candidate suggests Republicans would be creating a problem for themselves if they nominate Cruz og:url: https://time.com/4169040/trump-cruz-canada/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4a02c5381c4ec1b/698877c18e0601f627463fec/donald-trump-ted-cruz-gop-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidates Debate In Las Vegas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Revives Concerns Over Nominating Canadian-Born Cruz twitter:description: Candidate suggests Republicans would be creating a problem for themselves if they nominate Cruz twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4a02c5381c4ec1b/698877c18e0601f627463fec/donald-trump-ted-cruz-gop-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Revives Concerns Over Nominating Canadian-Born Cruz by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Jan 6, 2016 11:26 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) interact at the conclusion of CNN's GOP presidential debate at The Venetian Las Vegas on Dec. 15, 2015. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) interact at the conclusion of CNN's GOP presidential debate at The Venetian Las Vegas on Dec. 15, 2015.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Jan 6, 2016 11:26 AM UTC Donald Trump on Tuesday revived questions about Ted Cruz’s eligibility to become president, saying Republicans could be in a “very precarious” situation by selecting the Canadian-born conservative as the party’s presidential nominee. Trump told the Washington Post: “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 when asked about the topic. “It’d be a very precarious one for Republicans because he’d be running and the courts may take a long time to make decision. You don’t want to be running and have that kind of thing over your head.” Trump added, “I’d hate to see something like that get in his way. But a lot of people are talking about it and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport.” The Texas senator was born in Calgary, Canada, to an American mother. Legal experts, however, largely agree Cruz would qualify as a “natural born citizen” and could serve as commander-in-chief….. 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