Switzerland tight-lipped on Bachmann

By Julian Pecquet - 05/11/12 12:47 PM ET

The Swiss embassy in Washington is refusing to answer any questions about Thursday's decision by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to renounce her Swiss nationality.

“The Embassy of Switzerland in Washington DC confirms that the Swiss Consulate in Chicago has received by e-mail a letter signed by Congresswoman Michele Bachmann asking that her Swiss citizenship be withdrawn,” reads a statement on the embassy's website. “The Embassy does not comment on this private decision by Mrs. Bachmann.”

Bachmann became a Swiss citizen on March 19 after her husband of 34 years, Marcus Bachmann, registered for the Swiss citizenship he's entitled to as the son of Swiss nationals. The decision was prompted by Bachmann's children's decision to seek dual nationality, but it created a firestorm in the right-wing blogosphere after Swiss TV broke the story this week.

"As Ms. Bachmann liked to brag about during the debates, she has been a member of the House Intelligence Committee,” Examiner conservative columnist Lori Stacey wrote Thursday. ”Again, our Founding Fathers must have just done flip-flops in their graves. All Americans should have a problem with any member of Congress, especially one on the House Intelligence Committee running out and becoming a citizen of another country."