Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday said he’s thinking about setting up an investigative commission in the wake of his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States, and floated former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as someone who might lead it.
It’s a temporary ban … and we’re going to look at it and we’re going to study a problem,” Mr. Trump said on “Fox and Friends.” “We have a problem. Now if you don’t want to discuss the problem, we’re never going to solve the problem.”
He said President Obama refuses to use the term “radical Islamic terrorism.”
“Our president refuses to discuss the term, and it’s a real problem not only here, but throughout the world — it’s a real problem,” he said. “So we’ll figure it out. We will get it going, but we have to be extremely careful.
“In fact, I’m thinking about setting up a commission, perhaps headed by Rudy Giuliani, to take a very serious look at this problem,” he said. “But this is a worldwide problem, and we have to be smart.”
Mr. Giuliani announced he was supporting Mr. Trump ahead of the New York primary last month.
But the former mayor said in December soon after Mr. Trump floated the ban proposal that a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the country would be an “absolute violation” of the First Amendment.
“You cannot use religion as a basis for discriminating, and honestly, there’s no factual basis on which to assume that the vast majority of Muslims are terrorists — just the opposite,” Mr. Giuliani said on Fox News.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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