Trump to bring Obama's half-brother to final debate
Malik Obama 'gets it far better than his brother,' the Republican nominee says of the president's half-brother, who announced his support of Trump in July.
Donald Trump's campaign is bringing President Barack Obama's half-brother to the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday.
The campaign confirmed that Obama's Kenyan-born half-brother Malik will be in the audience during the final showdown between Trump and rival Hillary Clinton.
Malik told the New York Post that he's "excited to be at the debate," adding "Trump can make America great again."
Trump, meanwhile, told the paper that Malik, "gets it far better than his brother."
Malik Obama first made headline in July when he announced he will vote for Trump in the upcoming presidential elections in November because he likes the Republican nominee and he is unhappy with his brother's leadership.
Malik, who is in his 50s, told Reuters by phone from Obama's ancestral home of Kogelo in western Kenya in July that he supports Trump's policies, especially his focus on security.
"He appeals to me and also I think that he is down to earth and he speaks from the heart and he is not trying to be politically correct. He's just straight-forward," he said.
Malik, a US citizen, has lived in Washington since 1985 where he worked with various firms before becoming an independent financial consultant.
Trump's stance against Muslims coming in to the United States was understandable even to Muslims like himself, Malik said.
"I'm a Muslim, of course, but you can't have people going around just shooting people and killing people just in the name of Islam," he said.
He criticized President Obama's record in the White House saying he had not done much for the American people and his extended family despite the high expectations that accompanied his election in 2008, both in the United States and Kenya.
The two men appear to have drifted apart but were previously close. Malik has visited the president in the Oval office and was also best man at Barack's wedding.
Obama's election created much excitement in Kenya especially in Kogelo village where their father was born before going to study at the University of Hawaii.
Obama visited Nairobi, in the first ever trip by a sitting US president to the East African nation last July, and promised to visit more often when he leaves office.
Malik defended his right to criticize his brother, citing freedom of expression.
"To each his own. I speak my mind and I'm not going to be put in a box just because my brother is the President of the United States," Malik said.
The candidates have been using their debate guests as a tool to try to get inside their rivals' heads. Clinton is bringing frequent Trump critic and billionaire Mark Cuban and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman.
Trump invited to the most recent debate three of the women who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexually harassing or assaulting them years ago.
