Donald Trump on Friday pushed back against reports that he proposed creating a database of Muslims living in the United States, arguing that he made the comments in response to a question from a reporter.
In the same tweet noting the origins of his remarks about tracking American Muslims, Trump called for a “watch list,” though he did not specify who the list would target.
I didn’t suggest a database-a reporter did. We must defeat Islamic terrorism & have surveillance, including a watch list, to protect America
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2015
Trump was first asked about tracking Muslims during an interview with Yahoo News published on Thursday. When asked if he would consider registering American Muslims in a database, Trump did not rule it out.
“We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” he told Yahoo News.
Trump on Thursday night said he would “certainly implement” a database of Muslims when asked on Thursday night by NBC News.
And when asked if a database of Muslims in America could be compared to the Nazis registering Jews in Germany, Trump responded, “You tell me.”
