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President Obama's Half-Brother Will Vote for Trump


FILE - Malik Obama, the older brother of US President Barack Obama holds an undated picture of Barak (L) and himself (C) and an unidentified friend in his shop in Siaya, eastern Kenya, Sept. 14, 2004.
FILE - Malik Obama, the older brother of US President Barack Obama holds an undated picture of Barak (L) and himself (C) and an unidentified friend in his shop in Siaya, eastern Kenya, Sept. 14, 2004.

He may be half-brother to the president of the United States, but Malik Obama says that come November, he is going to vote for Donald Trump.

President Barack Obama's half-brother told The New York Post that he likes the Republican nominee "because he speaks from the heart" and that "'Make America Great Again' is a great slogan.'"

Malik Obama also criticized some decisions by his brother and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, especially the move to oust former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

"I still feel that getting rid of Gadhafi didn't make things any better in Libya," he said, adding "My brother and the secretary of state disappointed me in that regard."

Clinton is due to accept the Democratic Party's presidential nomination this week at the party's convention in Philadelphia, with President Obama expected to deliver a ringing endorsement.

In a separate interview with Reuters news agency, Malik Obama said Trump's stance against Muslims coming into the United States was understandable, even to Muslims like himself.

"I'm a Muslim, of course, but you cant have people going around just shooting people and killing people just in the name of Islam," he said.

President Obama has seven half-siblings from both his mother and father. Malik, who is three years older than the president, is the son of Barack Obama senior and his first wife.

Malik Obama was once close to the president and served as best man at his wedding. But the two appear to have drifted apart in recent years. Malik told the Post that his brother did nothing to help him when he ran for governor of the Kenyan county of Siaya in 2013.

The president's half-brother currently lives in the western Kenyan village of Kogelo but remains registered to vote in the state of Maryland, where he lived for many years. He said he will come back to the U.S. to cast his vote in November.

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