Ahead of a Thursday meeting with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said a proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States ideally wouldn’t have to be in place for very long and that there would be exceptions to it.
“I’d like to back off as soon as possible because frankly, I would like to see something happen, but we have to be vigilant,” Mr. Trump said on Wednesday’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on Fox News.” “There is a radical Islamic terrorism problem that our president doesn’t even want to talk about.”
“You have to have exceptions,” Mr. Trump said. “And ideally you won’t have a ban very long. I mean, we just have to find out what’s happening.”
Mr. Trump said he is looking at setting up a commission on the issue that could be headed by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
“I’ve spoken to him a little while ago,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re going to put together a group of probably five or six people, very, very highly thought of people, and I think Rudy will head it up.”
“And we’ll look at the Muslim ban, or temporary ban as we call it, and we’ll look at some other things on immigration and [I] have a lot of confidence in Rudy Giuliani,” he said.
Mr. Giuliani has previously expressed constitutional concerns about such a proposal.
“I think by putting together a commission — a group of people that are highly respected in this field, like Rudy and others — I think that could lead to something pretty good,” Mr. Trump said.
“Rudy’s a smart guy, he’s a tough guy — he gets it,” he said. “He understands the problem, and he’s willing to talk about the problem, and he will head it up, and he’s agreed to do so.”
The comments were aired the day before Mr. Trump is scheduled to meet with Mr. Ryan and other congressional Republicans in Washington, D.C.
The temporary ban on Muslims coming into the country is one of a few ideas or statements from Mr. Trump that Mr. Ryan has publicly rebuked.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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