Donald Trump on Saturday scolded the media for writing “false stuff” after a report that the Republican presidential front-runner wants a database to keep track of Muslims living in the U.S.
Trump clarified that he only wants a database for Syrian refugees entering the country “if we can’t stop them, but we’re going to.”
{mosads}“If you don’t mind, I want to be — I want to surveil — I want surveillance of these people coming in, the Trojan horse, I want to know who the hell they are,” Trump said at a rally in Birmingham, Ala.
Trump said he was talking about building a border wall when he told an NBC News reporter Friday that he would “certainly implement that.” The reply was interpreted to be in response to a question about tracking Muslims in the country.
He also said “there should be a lot of systems beyond databases” when the reporter asked him whether he would implement a Muslim identification system.
“So now, now what happens is yesterday, some little wise guy, he looked like he was 12 years old, he’s got a camera, I’m signing autographs, and I’m going like, he’s asking me questions, talking about the wall, we’re gonna build a wall, we’re gonna build this, we’re gonna — and I’m signing autographs and there’s music playing in the background and I’m leaving — bing bing bing, signing — and this little wise guy’s sitting there, and he’s asking me questions,” Trump said Saturday.
“So what happens is, they write false stories, and in this case they got called on it by a lot of people, because, you know, you can only go so much, OK?” he added.
Trump also said he was not backing down from his claim that the U.S. should surveil some mosques in order to track terrorism.
“So here’s the story, just to set it clear: I want surveillance of these people. I want surveillance if we have to, and I don’t care,” he said.
“I want — are you ready for this folks? Are you ready? Oh, they’re going to make it such a big deal, they’re going to make it so big, he said something so politically incorrect. That’s why we’re going to hell, because we’re so politically incorrect. Such a big deal, such a big deal. I want surveillance of certain mosques, OK?”
The businessman also said he would send back any Syrian refugees who enter the country if he were elected president.
“And if I win, I’ve made it known, if I win, they’re going back. We can’t have ‘em. They’re going back. We can’t have ‘em. We can’t have ‘em,” he said.