Michele Bachmann doesn’t want to be Swiss after all.
On Tuesday, Swiss national television reported that Bachmann, a Republican U.S. senator from Minnesota and former GOP presidential candidate, had recently become a citizen of Switzerland, a landlocked European country surrounded by Italy, France and Germany.
By Thursday, after media reports about her dual citizenship, Bachmann said she had sent the Swiss consulate a letter to withdraw her citizenship. She said she wanted to be clear that she was "100 percent committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America."
She was eligible for citizenship because Marcus Bachmann, her husband of 34 years, was born to Swiss immigrants who moved to Wisconsin, POLITICO reported. Bachmann’s office said the Bachmann children wanted dual citizenship and so the family decided to go through the process together, according to Minnesota Public Radio. They officially became Swiss citizens in March.
In Tuesday's report, Arthur Honegger, a journalist for Swiss national television, asked Bachmann if she would consider running for office in Switzerland.
Gesturing to the politicians behind her, Bachmann said competition would be “very stiff because they are very good.”
The Bachmanns visit Switzerland often, she added, always returning home with bags of the country's well-known chocolate.
But on Thursday, Bachmann released a statement saying she had sent a letter to the Swiss Consulate requesting to withdraw her Swiss citizenship.
“I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen,” she said. “I am proud of my allegiance to the greatest nation the world has ever known.”
The Swiss Embassy in Washington confirmed that the Swiss Consulate in Chicago had received Bachmann's e-mail asking that her Swiss citizenship be withdrawn.
The embassy refused to elaborate, saying, "The Embassy does not comment on this private decision by Mrs. Bachmann."
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