NBC News was called out for “selectively omitting” part of the 14th Amendment during an interview with President-elect Donald Trump.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., called attention to the verbal edit, posting a clip of NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday during which host Kristen Welker sat with the incoming president in his first national television interview since the election and spoke about his plan to end birthright citizenship.
Trump has called “ridiculous” the part of the amendment that grants citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. regardless of whether their parents are citizens. He has vowed to eliminate the policy “on Day One” of his administration. Welker contended that the 14th Amendment “states all persons born in the United States are citizens.”
“Can you get around the 14th Amendment with executive action?” she asked Trump.
🧵1. @MeetThePress omits six words about birthright citizenship from the 14th Amendment
The omitted text is set off by asterisks:
“All persons born … in the United States, *and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,* shall be citizens of the United States”
Those words matter https://t.co/qVYld0O4og
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) December 8, 2024
Trump responded by saying “we may have to go back to the people” on changing the 14th Amendment, adding that “we’re the only country” that has the policy.
But Sen. Lee reposted the segment, calling out the selective omission of six critical words.
“All persons born … in the United States, *and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,* shall be citizens of the United States,” he wrote in his post on X, noting the original text.
“Those words matter,” he added before offering a more in-depth breakdown in a thread on X.
“Congress has the power to define what it means to be born in the United States ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,'” he wrote.
” While current law contains no such restriction, Congress could pass a law defining what it means to be born in the United States ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’ excluding prospectively from birthright citizenship individuals born in the U.S. to illegal aliens,” the Utah Republican continued.
3. While current law contains no such restriction, Congress could pass a law defining what it means to be born in the United States “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” excluding prospectively from birthright citizenship individuals born in the U.S. to illegal aliens.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) December 8, 2024
“Those who suggest Congress is somehow powerless to limit birthright citizenship ignore important constitutional text giving Congress power define who among those ‘born in the United States’ is born subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’ Lee wrote.
“It bothers me that@MeetThePress, long revered as America’s leading Sunday political news program, has become so one-sided,” he added. “In this instance, @MeetThePress seems to try to render a debatable matter beyond debate by selectively omitting key words from the Constitution, making it appear incorrectly that the Fourteenth Amendment proscribes any and all restrictions on birthright citizenship.”
11. In this instance, @MeetThePress seems to try to render a debatable matter beyond debate by selectively omitting key words from the Constitution, making it appear incorrectly that the Fourteenth Amendment proscribes any and all restrictions on birthright citizenship.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) December 8, 2024
“You know, if someone puts one foot, one foot, in our land, congratulations you are now a citizen of the united states of America? We are gonna end that because it’s ridiculous,” Trump said.
