Joe Arpaio To Release New Information On Obama's Eligibility To Hold Office

Arpaio To Release New Obama Birth Certificate Info

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will make another announcement concerning his team's investigation of Barack Obama's eligibility to hold public office in late May or early June.

Mike Zullo, the lead investigator in Arpaio's "Cold Case Posse," told CBS 5 News the announcement will concern new findings, including data on Obama's 1980 registration for the draft.

"We didn't make a mistake the first time. We're not making a mistake this time," Zullo said.

In March 2012, Arpaio and his "Posse" announced that an investigation into Obama's birth certificate revealed the document was fake. The announcement did little to sway public opinion on the authenticity of the document, which Obama released to the public in April 2011.

"The Sheriff, he really thought [the investigation] would have settled the issue last time," Zullo said. "I thought it would have cleared it up the last time."

Despite feeling confident about the group's findings, Zullo seemed to doubt the issue would be cleared up after this press conference. When CBS 5 News asked Zullo, "Do you think [this press conference] will clear it up this time?" he issued a long pause before replying, "no."

Arpaio previously called his investigation into the President's birth certificate a "favor" to Obama. HuffPost's Elise Foley reports:

Arpaio insisted that he is investigating the racially-charged "birther" claims, which have been thoroughly debunked, because of demand from Tea Partiers. Obama released his long-form birth certificate in April 2011, but that was not enough for Arpaio, who said in November 2011 that he wants to see the microfiche of that document.

Arpaio met with "birther queen" Orly Taitz in October 2011 to discuss the investigation, again declining to give findings to the press.

"What should I do, throw it in the waste basket and forget about it, like everyone else is this country has done?" Arpaio said on Tuesday. "But once again, I take my elected sheriff's status very serious, and when the people ask me to do something I try to do it regardless of the repercussions, the politics and the media."

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