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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Trump Doubles Down on Call to Ban Muslims

MANCHESTER, N.H. (CN) - In his first public appearance since a gunman shot and killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his call to keep Muslims from entering the country.

Decrying a "dysfunctional" immigration system, Trump claimed thousands of immigrants are pouring in from Middle Eastern countries who share the "same thought process"" of Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old perpetrator of the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.

Trump then went on to falsely claim Mateen "was born an afghan, of Afghan parents who immigrated to the United States."

In fact, the Orlando shooter was born in Queens, New York, and his family moved to Port St. Lucie, Fla. in 1991.

Trump's response to the Orlando tragedy was similar to his reaction to the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. in December.

Then as now, Trump insisted that screening Muslim immigrants, including Syrian refugees, is ineffective and that their religion is "inconsistent" with American values and institutions.

"We want to remain a free and open society. If we do, we have to control our borders. And we have to control now, not later."

Like Mateen, one of the two shooters in the San Bernardino incident was a natural born American citizen.

Reading from a teleprompter at the private event at Saint Anselm College in NH, Trump then challenged that Hillary Clinton's reluctance to use the phrase "radical Islam", an ideology he claimed the former secretary of state has "no clue" about, broadcasts her weakness.

Both Clinton and the Obama administration are putting political correctness above national security, according to Trump, and it's this response that he says "cripples" Americans ability to think and talk clearly.

Trump made gun control proposals during the speech. Nor did he mention that AR-15 semi-automatic rifle used in Sunday's attack, and the weapons used in many other mass shootings in the United States in recent years were legally purchased.

. Calling himself a defender of the second amendment, Trump warned Clinton would pry guns away from law-abiding citizens.

"She wants to take away Americans' guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us," Trump said while proudly touting his NRA endorsement and a planned meeting with the group.

Trump then tried to use the Orlando attack to pummel Clinton, asking how she could claim to be a friend of the LGBT community while allowing in immigrants he allege are "anti-women" and "anti-gay" into the country.

Calling himself a friend of the LGBT community, he advised it to look closely at what he said was the difference between her words and his actions.

Trump postponed a scheduled rally Monday in Portsmouth, NH and scrapped plans to deliver an anti-Clinton speech following the attack, instead billing this as a "major" national security speech.

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