Rep. Pete King (R-NY) criticized Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Monday for saying that someone who is Muslim should not be President.
“A Muslim has every right to run for President and be President,” King said during an interview on Fox News.
Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, was asked on Sunday by NBC host Chuck Todd whether a President’s faith mattered — and whether he thought Islam was consistent with the Constitution.
“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” Carson told Todd.
King said on Fox that he thought the question “could have been better,” but that he disagreed with Carson’s response.
“If they believe in a radical form of Islam, then no. But as far as just because a person is Muslim, one of our best allies in the world is King Abdullah of Jordan. And he is obviously 110% Muslim,” King said.
“I think it was wrong. Ben Carson, probably, what he should’ve said: ‘If you believe in islamic extremism, if you believe in the type of Islam which believes in jihad then you should not be President,'” King said. “But there are many, many good Muslims in this country. And, yeah, I’ve been critical of the Muslim community but I also know there are many, many good Muslims.”
The criticism may be unexpected coming from King, who once scheduled hearings to examine the “radicalization” of American Muslims, said that there were “too many” mosques in the country, and once told Fox’s Sean Hannity that “80 to 85 percent” of the country’s mosques are overseen by “Islamic fundamentalists.” He has also called for the “all out” surveillance of Muslim communities by law enforcement.
In addition, King in the past questioned whether the Council on American-Islamic Relations was a legitimate organization.
He echoed those criticisms of CAIR during his Fox interview on Monday morning.
“It’s wrong to paint this broad brush,” King said. “We’re isolating the Muslim community when we should be trying to find those elements in the community that want to work with us. And they are there — they’ve been silenced up ’til now by groups like CAIR and other radical groups. Don’t let CAIR be the spokesman for the community.”
