PHOENIX — Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sent one of his deputies to Hawaii to accompany an official in his volunteer posse who is investigating President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, despite earlier saying no taxpayer money was being spent on the probe.
PHOENIX — Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sent one of his deputies to Hawaii to accompany an official in his volunteer posse who is investigating President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, despite earlier saying no taxpayer money was being spent on the probe.
The sheriff said Tuesday taxpayers won’t ultimately foot the bill because the posse, which so far has used $40,000 in donations to pay for the probe, will reimburse his office for the deputy’s trip to Hawaii this week.
Arpaio said the deputy who was sent to Hawaii was there for security reasons, which the sheriff declined to discuss.
“Even if it was costing the tax payers money, we are talking about a criminal investigation into possible fraud and forgery on government documents,” the sheriff said.
The sheriff launched the investigation last summer and said in March there was probable cause to believe Obama’s long-form birth certificate, released by the White House more than a year ago, is a computer-generated forgery and the president’s Selective Service card was most likely a forgery.
Speculation about Obama’s birthplace has swirled among conservatives for years. So-called “birthers” maintain Obama is ineligible to hold the country’s highest elected office because, they contend, he was born in Kenya, his father’s homeland.
Hawaii officials have repeatedly confirmed Obama’s citizenship, and Obama released a copy of his long-form birth certificate more than a year ago in an attempt to quell citizenship questions. Courts also have rebuffed lawsuits over the issue.