Former New York Mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani said in an interview Saturday that President Donald Trump asked him to find a way to “legally” enact the ban on Muslim immigration he repeatedly touted on the campaign trail.
“Does the ban have anything to do with religion?” Fox News host Jeanine Pirro asked Giuliani. “How did the President decide the seven countries?”
“When he first announced it, he said Muslim ban,” Giuliani said. “He called me up, he said ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.'”
Giuliani said that he assembled a commission including former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Rep. Pete King (R-NY).
He denied that the executive order to implement “extreme vetting” the President signed Friday had anything to do with religion.
“What we did was we focused on, instead of religion, danger,” Giuliani said.
He said it was a “factual basis, not a religious basis.”
This is incorrect, as the order stipulates that Christians and other members of minority religions be given priority over Muslims.
Watch their exchange below starting at 2:57:
