Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., blasted NBC News for “selectively omitting” a key part of the 14th Amendment in a question about birthright citizenship during an interview with President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday.
Trump was asked about a number of changes he plans to make once he takes office during a meeting on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” including his plan to put an end to birthright. Under the 14th Amendment, someone born in the U.S. is granted citizenship regardless of whether their parents are citizens. Trump confirmed he plans to end the policy “on day one,” calling it “ridiculous.”
NBC host Kristen Welker pushed back, arguing that the 14th Amendment “states that all persons in the United States are citizens. Can you circumvent the 14th Amendment with executive action?” she asked.
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Donald Trump said in an interview on “Meet the Press” that he planned to end Birthright on Day One. (Screenshot/NBC)
Trump said he was open to executive action and reiterated that the US is “the only country that has this” and “we have to put an end to it.”
Lee later shared a clip of the exchange on X on Sunday, in which he chided the NBC host for omitting six words critical of the 14th Amendment in her question to Trump.
“All persons born… in the United States, *and subject to the jurisdiction thereof* shall be citizens of the United States,” Lee wrote on X, highlighting the missing words with asterisks.
“Those words matter,” he added.
The senator went on to explain the matter in a long thread of twelve parts.
“Congress has the power to define what it means to be born in the United States ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’” he wrote.
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Although current law does not contain such a limitation, Congress could enact a law defining what it means to be born in the United States “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” excluding persons born in the U.S. and illegal aliens will be excluded from their birthright in the future.
“Those who suggest that Congress is somehow powerless to restrict birthright citizenship ignore important constitutional language that gives Congress the power to determine who among those ‘born in the United States’ is born under its jurisdiction of them.’
“It bothers me that @MeetThePress, long revered as America’s premier Sunday political news program, has become so one-sided,” he continued.
“In this case, @MeetThePress appears to be attempting to dismiss a debatable issue from debate by selectively omitting key words from the Constitution, falsely making it appear that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits all restrictions on birthright citizenship.”
NBC did not respond to Fox News Digital when asked whether the omission was intentional.
Trump discussed a number of other topics during the wide-ranging interview, including his plan to restore the country’s reputation worldwide, his thoughts on FBI Director Christopher Wray, and how he plans to unite a broken country in his inaugural speech.
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“It’s going to be a message of unity, and I think success brings unity. And I experienced that. I experienced it in my first term, as I said. We’re going to talk about unity. and we’re going to talk about success. Making our country safe. Keeping out people who shouldn’t be in our country, that’s what we have to do. I know it doesn’t sound nice, but we have to do that. In short, it’s about taking our country together,” Trump said .
