Rebukes Trump

O’Reilly rebukes Trump over Muslim ban

By Nick Gass

Donald Trump clashed with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly on his show over the Republican candidate's call to ban all Muslims from entering the country until American officials "can figure out what is going on" following the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California.

The host of "The O'Reilly Factor" told Trump that while he agreed that people coming to the United States must be vetted and the burden of proof rests with them, Trump's proposal is hurting the U.S.' standing in the fight against Islamic State terrorists.

"I disagree," Trump interjected, as O'Reilly continued, "We need the friendly Muslim nations. You can't insult them like that. You can't."

Trump again reiterated the need for immigrants to be "perfectly vetted."

"You can vet them, but you can't insult the whole religion," O'Reilly said.

Trump responded, "We're not insulting. This is about security. It's not about religion. This is about security. We cannot allow people to come into this country that have horrible things on their mind."

O'Reilly then indicated that perhaps Trump had not "thought through the unintended consequences of banning an entire religion from coming to the United States."

"Just my opinion," he remarked.

"Bill, Bill, Bill — I thought through everything. Believe me, I thought through everything. Look at what's happening," Trump said. "I thought through everything, and again, I've had calls from friends of mine who happen to be Muslim, saying you're the only one with the courage. Bill — they said you're the only one with the courage to say it. They all know what I'm saying is true."

"We want to win the war against ISIS and the jihad. You've got to enlist Muslim nations to do it. Insulting them en masse is not the way," O'Reilly said.

In another interview on "CNN Tonight with Don Lemon" aired later Wednesday, Trump clarified that there would be "exceptions" to the ban of all Muslims entering the U.S., when asked by that show's host about foreign diplomats and people doing business in the country.

"I mean you're going to have — I'm not going to say you can't come into the country," the Manhattan billionaire explained, qualifying his earlier declaration. "And the one thing people didn't pick up, at the end of that sentence, it said until we get our hands around it, essentially, until we find out what the hell is going on, which is the expression I used."

Asked by Lemon what he meant by that, Trump responded, "Why is there such hatred and such viciousness?"