LTP News Sharing:

Donald Trump said he planned to end birthright citizenship on Day One in an interview on ‘Meet the Press.’ (Screenshot/NBC)

Sen.
Mike Lee, R-Utah., took NBC News to task
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 intends to implement
once he assumes office during a sit down released on NBC’s
“Meet the Press,” including his plan to end
birthright citizenship.  Under the 14th Amendment,
someone born in the U.S. is granted citizenship regardless
of whether their parents are citizens. Trump confirmed that
he intends to end the policy “on Day One,” calling it
“ridiculous.”

NBC
host Kristen Welker pushed back, arguing that the 14th
Amendment “states all persons in the United States are
citizens. Can you get around the 14th Amendment with
executive action?” she asked.

Trump
said he was open to using executive action, reiterating that
the U.S. is “the only country has it” and “we have to end
it.”

Lee
shared a clip of the exchange on X later Sunday, rebuking
the NBC host for omitting six critical words from 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 in
asterisks.

“Those
words matter,” he added.

The
senator continued to break down the issue in a lengthy
12-part thread.

“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.

“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.’

“It
bothers me that@MeetThePress, long revered as America’s
leading Sunday political news program, has become so
one-sided,” he continued.

“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.”

NBC
did not respond to Fox News Digital when asked whether the
omission was intentional.

Trump
addressed a number of other topics during the wide-ranging
interview, including his plan to restore the country’s
reputation globally, his thoughts on FBI Director
Christopher Wray, and how
he plans to unify a fractured country in
his inaugural address.

“It’s
going to be a message of unity, and I think success brings
unity. And I’ve experienced that. I’ve experienced it in my
first term, as I’ve said. We’re going to be talking about
unity, and we’re going to be talking about success. Making
our country safe. Keeping people that shouldn’t be in our
country out, we have to do that. I know it doesn’t sound
nice, but we have to do that. Basically, it’s going to be
about bringing our country together,” Trump said.