In a remarkably candid interview Sunday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said President Donald Trump wanted to create a “Muslim ban” but needed Giuliani and others to help him craft it legally.
In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Giuliani told host Jeanine Pirro, “When he first announced it, he said, ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up, he said, ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it, legally.’”
Giuliani then included Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Rep. Peter King (R-NY), former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and what Giuliani termed a “whole group of other very expert lawyers.”
Giuliani said the group focused on “danger” and not religion. In the executive order Trump signed Friday, he banned citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the country.
“(It’s) the areas of the world that create danger for us.” Giuliani said. “Which is a factual basis, not a religious basis. Perfectly legal, perfectly sensible. That’s what the ban is based on.”
On Saturday, Trump said his executive order was not a Muslim ban but that “it’s working out very nicely.” On Sunday, after a federal judge blocked his immigration ban, Trump took to blasting the New York Times on Twitter.
Watch the interview here as Giuliani also explained why Saudi Arabia and Pakistan weren’t on the list of banned countries:
