Positioned in front of a gigantic Trump-Pence campaign bus on Thursday morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence was asked by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on "Morning Joe" if his running mate Donald Trump planned to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.
Pence looked confused and responded: "Of course not. We're talking about areas of the world, territories and specifically countries that have been so compromised by terrorism that we can't know for certain who those people are."
And Pence also said that he thought Trump had "clarified that repeatedly" when co-host Mika Brzezinski asked about the ban. Here are the times that Trump "clarified that repeatedly":
Dec. 7, 2015: A two paragraph press release from Donald Trump's campaign called for a ban on all Muslims and read, "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."
The press release was a response to the San Bernardino shootings on Dec. 2.
In the same release, Trump said:
Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for president, we are going to make America great again.
Jan. 14, 2016, during the sixth Republican debate, Trump stood by his December call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo asked Trump if he wanted to rethink his position on banning Muslims.
He stood firm.
"No," he said. And after receiving applause, he continued, "Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Center, with the — with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world.
"I just left Indonesia — bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb."
May 11, 2016, Trump told Fox News radio's Brian Kilmeade that the ban was "temporary" and a "suggestion."
"We have a serious problem, and it's a temporary ban — it hasn't been called for yet, nobody's done it, this is just a suggestion until we find out what's going on," Trump said, according to a CNN report.
June 13, 2016, Trump gave a speech in which he reiterated that his proposed ban on Muslims was temporary and mentioned that he wanted to suspend immigration from areas of the world with a proven history of terrorism. The speech was in response to Orlando's Pulse nightclub shooting.
"A radical Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub not only because he wanted to kill Americans, but in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation," Trump said.
"The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here," he said later in the speech.
"I called for a ban after San Bernardino and was met with great scorn and anger but now many are saying I was right to do so," he said in reference to his December statement. He continued, "When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we understand how to end these threats."
June 25, 2016, Trump tweeted:
We must suspend immigration from regions linked with terrorism until a proven vetting method is in place.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2016
July 17, 2016, Gov. Pence and Trump went on "60 Minutes," where Pence told CBS' Lesley Stahl that he agreed with Trump's Muslim ban.
"Mr. Trump, you have called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Do you agree with that?" asked Stahl.
Pence responded, "I do. In fact, in Indiana we suspended the Syrian refugee program in the wake of the terrorist attack. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of the people of this country, and Donald Trump —"
Stahl interrupted Pence to remind him of his Dec. 8 tweet, the day after Trump called for the Muslim ban:
Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional.
— Governor Mike Pence (@GovPenceIN) Dec. 8, 2015
When Stahl asked Trump if he was changing his stance on Muslims, he said, "No, I — call it whatever you want. We'll call it territories, OK?"
July 24, 2016, Trump went on "Meet the Press." NBC's Chuck Todd asked if Trump was "backing off" on the Muslim ban. "I actually don't think it's a pullback. In fact, you could say it's an expansion," Trump said.
Aug. 15, 2016, The Washington Post reported that Trump called for "extreme vetting" of immigrants coming to the United States during a speech in Youngstown, Ohio.
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