Sarah Palin came to the defense of Donald Trump on Tuesday night in the wake of criticism coming from both sides targeting the potential presidential contender.
"Donald Trump is the one being really treated unfairly," said the former Alaska governor during an interview on Fox News Channel’s Hannity. She said that the press has been "hammering" the billionaire for propagating the debunked conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.
"He's merely answering reporters' questions about his view on the birth certificate," Palin explained. "Reporters turn that around and say 'That's all he's got. He's always only running on a birth certificate issue' when that's not the case."
She asserted that Trump is "running" on the birther issue and that, "bottom line," the president "is so far over his head."
It's not the first time that Palin has voiced support for Trump amid criticism surrounding his potential candidacy for the White House. During a recent appearance on Fox News, the former governor made similar remarks.
"Well, I appreciate that the Donald wants to spend his resources in getting to the bottom of something that so interests him and many Americans, you know, more power to him," she said presumably referring to an indication made by Trump last week that he has investigators on the ground in Hawaii searching for information on the president's birthplace.
Palin added, "He's not just throwing stones from the sidelines, he's digging in, he's paying for researchers to find out why President Obama would have spent $2 million to not show his birth certificate, so more power to him."
Despite the comments, Palin has signaled she believes the president was born in the United States. As for her own ambitions for 2012, she said on Tuesday night that launching a presidential exploratory isn't "even on the radar."
"I've never really run for anything conventionally over the last couple of decades," she explained, adding, "I've jumped in and done it when I've known that it is the right thing."
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