'Chief strategist Stephen Bannon said Islam isn't a religion of peace, President Trump doesn't share his views'- White House says
CNN's
K file, this week reported a 2010 interview of Stephen Bannon
criticizing former U.S President George W. Bush for saying Islam was a
religion of peace
"Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is a
religion of submission. Islam means submission." but the White House
has now come out to state that Trump doesn't share his views and his
policies aren't targeted at any religion in particular but radicals who
use a particular religion to carry out evil acts.
"I
think the President's been very clear that his No. 1 goal is not to
target any one religion, but places and areas where we believe that
there is an issue," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during a
White House briefing.
"That's what the
executive order was all about the other day, making sure that areas that
we don't feel have the proper mechanisms in place to assure the
security, that when they travel the United States that we know that
they're coming here for peaceful purposes."
"The
President's No. 1 goal has always been to focus on the safety of
America, not the religion. He understands that it's not a religious
problem. It's a radicalization problem, that there's a big difference
between Islam, the religion, and radical Islamic terrorists that come
here to seek to do us harm."
Asked if Donald Trump wanted to separate himself from Bannon's past comments, Spicer replied in the affirmative.
"I think I just made it clear that there's a difference between the President's view, yeah," said Spice
Comments