“Some people thought I should have defended the president in terms of the question that was asked the other night”, Trump said.

Carson went on to say he would be in favor of voting for a Muslim to serve in Congress, but only if their faith was “consistent with things that would elevate this nation for everybody to succeed and bring peace and harmony”.

A day after sparking outrage for failing to condemn a call to purge the U.S. of Muslims and claims that President Barack Obama is not an American, US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump said Muslims are “no threat” to the United States and they are actually great people. He also, on both broadcasts, refused to say whether Obama was born in the United States.

“I get that, but to say we have a problem and it’s called Muslims because there are some extremists Muslims, it tarring all Muslims”, the frustrated CNN host pointed out. More than perhaps any single individual, Trump is responsible for planting doubts about Obama’s birthplace and his religion. So, we’ll see what happens. “I mean, it wasn’t people from Sweden that blew up the World Trade Center”. “I think the bigger issue here is you have Ben Carson basically saying a Muslim shouldn’t be president, and I’d like him to say that to my staff member, who is Muslim, who set it up so I can be here today”.

“Would I be comfortable?” Tapper continued questioning Trump about the fact that Trump did not interrupt the gentleman who said, our President is a Muslim.

Trump on Twitter turned the tables on his critics, saying they wouldn’t come to his defense if the roles were reversed and that the media would have attacked him if he had cut the questioner off. “This is the first question“. He canceled a South Carolina campaign event on Friday, citing business obligations, and chose to forego press gaggles at two events in Iowa on Saturday.

Trump explained he wasn’t there to talk about whether President Obama was or was not born here.

“Some people have said it already happened”, he replied.

In another tweet, he wrote, “Christians need support in our country (and around the world), their religious liberty is at stake!” Marco Rubio, who told Hannity, “I don’t believe anybody should be disqualified from the presidency because of their denomination or because of their faith”.