Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addressed the firestorm over whether he is for a database for Muslims, saying, “I was really responding to totally different reporter. He was responding to that reporter, where basically the suggestion was made, and it’s certainly something we should start thinking about, but what I want is a watchlist. I want surveillance programs.” He later added, “I want a database for the Syrian refugees” and that he didn’t hear the reporter who asked him about a Muslim database “very clearly,” “but even if I did, I mean, I want [a] database for the Syrian refugees” in an interview broadcast on Friday’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”
Trump was asked, “Would President Donald Trump support a full Muslim database?”
He responded, “I was really responding to totally different reporter. He was responding to that reporter, where basically, the suggestion was made, and it’s certainly something we should start thinking about, but what I want is a watchlist. I want surveillance programs. Obviously, there are a lot of problems. I want a database for the Syrian refugees that Obama is going to let in, if we don’t stop him, as Republicans, if we don’t stop him. But certainly, I’d want to have a database for the refugees — for the Syrian refugees that are coming in, because nobody knows where they’re coming from. I hear some are missing, at least one is missing, already, gone. And you looked at what happened in Paris, you’re looking at what’s happened all over the place. Look at the tragic event of today and last night, in the hotel. And you say to yourself, ‘Why shouldn’t we have good surveillance?’ So, I want to have watchlists. I want to have surveillance programs. I mean, we’re not a bunch of babies. We need protection, and we need it now, and we don’t have leadership in this country. Certainly, our president is not a leader. So, we need protection. We need it now. And we should have [a] database for the Syrian refugees, if they come in, through Obama, and they’re already starting.”
Trump was then asked, “So, to be clear you’re not saying anything with respect to a religious database. You’re talking about the Syrian refugees, in light of the national security developments affecting this country as we speak here tonight. Who was this reporter that brought this up and made that suggestion?”
Trump answered, “Well, first of all, I don’t even know who he was. He was a guy with a camera, and he was asking questions. He said, I think he was from NBC, but you couldn’t hear anything, because I was signing books, and there was music blaring in the background, and people were screaming to sign books, and sign different things, and he was asking questions. So, I didn’t hear it very clearly, but even if I did, I mean, I want [a] database for the Syrian refugees that Obama’s going to let in, if they come in. But they’ve already started coming in, Kimberly, which is absolutely ridiculous. I think it’s a Trojan horse, and plenty of problems are going to be caused. We are very, very foolish in this country, and we have a lot of problems, and the biggest problem we have no leader.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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