Chris Cuomo Blames Kamala Harris For Not Addressing Racist 'Birther' Hoax
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo came under fire Tuesday when he seemed to suggest in a since-deleted tweet that there’s no proof of where Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was born and that the onus is on her to prove right-wing “birther” conspiracists wrong in their claims she’s not eligible to run for president.
He weighed in after CNN contributor Ana Navarro slammed a far-right conspiracy theorist for falsely insisting that Harris — who was born in Oakland, California, and announced her candidacy for the Democratic ticket on Monday — could not legally be president because her parents had lived in the U.S. for less than five years before having her.
“The longer there is no proof either way, the deeper the effect,” Cuomo wrote after saying, “hopefully ... the legit info [about] Harris comes out to deal with the allegation ASAP.”
And hopefully there will be no games where the issue keeps changing for righty accusers...and...the legit info abt Harris comes out to deal with the allegation ASAP. The longer there is no proof either way, the deeper the effect https://t.co/y4Z6ZRXLdY
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 22, 2019
Harris’ press secretary Ian Sams quickly took down Cuomo on Tuesday, slamming the anchor for implying there’s some “mystery about the ‘legit info’” regarding her birthplace and birthright citizenship status.
👏 She 👏 was 👏 born 👏 in 👏 OAKLAND 👏
There's no "both sides," there's no lack of proof or competing facts, there's no mystery about the "legit info." This is ridiculous -- just like the birther smear was a decade ago. https://t.co/DRpbQHPsyO— Ian Sams (@IanSams) January 22, 2019
After deleting the original tweet, Cuomo sent out a new one saying his message was misunderstood. He had intended to “put onus on accuser,” not Harris, he replied to one critic.
Deleted my original tweet because it was taken literally the opposite way that I intended it. Sen Harris has no duty to justify any such accusation, let alone a birtherism attack. You accuse, you prove. That was my point. Apologize for confusion.
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 22, 2019
The conspiracy theory attempting to smear Harris, both Sams and Navarro noted, isn’t much different from the racist birther claims that followed Barack Obama when he was a presidential candidate and continue to do so with encouragement from President Donald Trump.
“Hmmmmm.....I wonder what Obama and [Harris] have in common?” Navarro tweeted, a clear nod to the fact that both lawmakers are black.
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cuomo’s tweet.
This story has been updated to include that Chris Cuomo deleted his original tweet and posted a response.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
