By Drew Zahn with WorldNetDaily (as always, you may click on title above to see original posting.)
 Screen shot of document Lucas Smith insists is Obama's Kenyan birth certificate |
With a scheduled hearing date looming Tuesday, Lucas Smith, the man who tried to sell an alleged Barack Obama Kenyan birth certificate on eBay, has filed court papers in a high-profile eligibility case insisting – under threat of perjury – that the Obama birth certificate in his possession is the genuine article.
Smith filed his affidavit through California attorney Orly Taitz, who has spearheaded several lawsuits challenging Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility to serve as president, as part of a case that includes as plaintiff former presidential candidate Alan Keyes.
Taitz posted on her blog Smith's declaration, which claims he obtained the alleged birth certificate from Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya, and insists it's real.
'The true and correct photocopy of the birth certificate obtained is attached to this affidavit as Exhibit A,' the declaration reads. 'I declare, certify, verify, state and affirm under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing statements of fact and descriptions of circumstances and events are true and correct.'
Smith's affidavit, which includes a copy of the certificate, has been filed with Judge David Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Carter is scheduled to preside over a hearing on the case on Sept. 8.
Taitz told WND she believes the swiftly approaching court date prompted Smith into action:
'He has been in touch with me for quite a while, and he emailed me the document with his signature,' Taitz said. 'I think he was trying to figure out the most expedient way to bring his message public, and maybe he felt that because I have a hearing coming, that would be the most expedient way.'
Taitz hopes the court will order expedited discovery, a ruling that would open many of Obama's currently sealed documents, including his college records and Hawaiian long-form birth certificate, to court scrutiny.
'We'll see what happens on Tuesday. If Judge Carter has the guts, we may move very fast,' Taitz told WND. 'If expedited discovery is ordered, I'll be dashing to Occidental College and then be on a flight to Hawaii.'
In his filing, Smith declares that he traveled to Kenya in February and paid off a military officer in order to obtain a copy of the birth certificate from Coast General Hospital in Mombasa. The declaration also states that the hospital administrator signed and sealed the copy, which indicates Obama's birth in Africa on Aug. 4, 1961, at 7:24 p.m.
As WND reported, Smith released a video of the document he claims is a copy of Obama's hospital birth record, though an investigation by Jerome Corsi maintains the document is a forgery.
WND first reported earlier this year when Lucas Smith, a former resident of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and known by the eBay handle 'colmado_naranja,' claimed to have a document proving Obama's birth in Mombasa, Kenya.
After promising to reveal the document to WND, Smith then dropped communications with a team of people offering to help him verify the document, only fueling the belief the sale – and therefore the alleged document – was a scam.
WND followed Smith's ongoing saga as 'colmado_naranja' as he attempted several times to sell the document, or photos and stories surrounding it, on eBay, only to have the auctions repeatedly removed by site administrators.
WND also launched an investigation into 'colmado_naranja,' which led through several online aliases and reported collaborators, including Dawnella Wilson, 'InspectorSmith' and, eventually, Lucas Smith.
Smith, whose background includes a lengthy criminal record and a reported attempt to sell his kidney to a man in need of organ transplant, nonetheless insists that his motives are above board, even if his past looks dubious.
'I do have a background. I've made mistakes in my life,' Smith told WND in an e-mail. 'It took a guy like me to go and get tangible proof about Obama. I don't mind breaking a few laws or policies here and there. I don't mind paying the military in foreign countries to look the other way ... The military [in Africa] will grant you access to anything for just a few dollars. People are starving. So yes, it takes a guy like me to get things done once in a while.'
An enhanced version of the Smith YouTube video has been published by Repubx.com, permitting a more legible examination of the document.
WND has also determined that a supposed Kenyan birth certificate previously released by attorney Orly Taitz is also a forgery.
WND has reported on an authentic 1961-era Kenyan birth certificate, which looks distinctly different from the document Smith released in the video.
 Authentic 1961-era Kenyan birth certificate obtained by WND |
WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama's status as a 'natural born citizen.' The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, 'No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.'
Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.
Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.
Complicating the situation is Obama's decision to spend sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid releasing a state birth certificate that would put to rest the questions.
WND has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes his kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.
 'Where's The Birth Certificate?' billboard at the Mandalay Bay resort on the Las Vegas Strip |
The campaign followed a petition that has collected more than 450,000 signatures demanding proof of his eligibility, the availability of yard signs raising the question and the production of permanent, detachable magnetic bumper stickers asking the question.
The 'certification of live birth' posted online and widely touted as 'Obama's birth certificate' does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same 'short-form' document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true 'long-form' birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.
Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a 'natural born citizen,' no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a Hawaiian birth.
If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Joseph Farah about this campaign, e-mail WND.
