Did a whistleblower reveal that former U.S. President Barack Obama was an Indonesian citizen and was given financial support as a foreign student while attending Occidental College in Los Angeles? No, that's not true: It is one of a series of fake reports based on a 2013 press release by discredited "birther conspiracy" advocate Orly Taitz, a California lawyer and dentist. The original allegation concerned Obama's attendance at New York's Columbia University.
The story originated from an article published on March 15, 2019 titled "Whistleblower: Obama Was Indonesian Citizen & Given Financial Aid As Foreign Student At Occidental College - DC Dirty Laundry" (archived here) which opened:
A whistleblower from Higher Education Services Corporation in Albany New York came forward and advised Attorney Orly Taitz that she personally reviewed Barack Obama's financial aid information, which stated that financial aid was given to Obama as foreign student and as a citizen of Indonesia.
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Whistleblower: Obama Was Indonesian Citizen & Given Financial Aid As Foreign Student At Occidental College - DC Dirty Laundry
A whistleblower from Higher Education Services Corporation in Albany New York came forward and advised Attorney Orly Taitz that she personally reviewed Barack Obama's financial aid information, which stated that financial aid was given to Obama as foreign student and as a citizen of Indonesia.
The change from Columbia University to Occidental brings with it an obvious flaw in this hoax. The purported whistleblower was supposedly on the staff at New York State's Higher Educaction Services Corporation, a real agency that for decades has assisted students in lining up college financial aid. But only New York State students are eligible for the help, not those from Hawaii -- where Obama graduated from high school -- or in California. Why would this New York staffer have a chance to "personally review" Obama's financial aid information for a California school?
Taitz said in a written statement addressed to Rep. Darrell Issa in 2013, who was then chairman of the House Oversight Committee, that she met the whistleblower -- whom she named as Laurie Hathaway -- at a rally in Washington "protesting the mega amnesty of millions of illegals." Hathaway told her that Obama "received an educational loan from HESC as a foreign citizen, a citizen of Indonesia. As a citizen of Indonesia he is not eligible to be the U.S. President," Taitz wrote. Lead Stories could find no references to such a person making such allegations beyond the Taitz claim.
Taitz explained that while Hathaway promised to follow up with the documents, she mysteriously disappeared while under government surveillance. "Intimidation and harassment of the whistle blower Laurie Hathaway by Holder Department of Justice and Mueller/Comey FBI is akin to the intimidation of citizens by the Hitler NAZI Gestapo or SS troops," Taitz wrote.
Taitz did file a lawsuit in Orange County, California, in 2012, in an attempt to force Occidental to release Obama's student records, but it was rejected by the court. The school's student newspaper, The Occidental Weekly, reported at the time that Superior Court Judge Charles Margines told Taitz when tossing her suit "You should know that evidence is not stuff printed from the Internet."
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A website providing conservative commentary that has published false information and misleading headlines.
According to NewsGuard the site does not maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability. Read their full assessment here.
