The San Bernardino, Calif., shooting last week could have been avoided if people were not so concerned with being politically correct, said Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
There were red flags before the incident took place, but people did not report suspicious activity by married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, said Trump.
“Well, they were saying that it was — that they would’ve been profiling,” Trump told “Face the Nation” host John Dickerson. “And a person said, ‘We sort of knew what was going on, but we don’t want to profile.’ Can you believe this?”
The suspects were believed to have lived in the Redlands area, and Aaron Elswick, who was visiting a friend who lived in the same neighborhood, told local news station KTLA that he knew a local who saw suspicious activity, including the couple working in their garage at odd hours and receiving multiple package deliveries. She didn’t want to report it because she was afraid to “do any kind of racial profiling,” Elswick suggested.
When asked if profiling should be allowed, Trump replied, “Well, I think there can be profiling.”
“If they thought there was something wrong with that group and they saw what was happening, and they didn’t want to call the police because they didn’t want to be profiling, I think that’s pretty bad,” Trump added.
Later in the interview, Dickerson asked Trump whether he thought Farook’s sister, Saira Khan, knew anything about the shooting before it happened. On Friday Khan told ABC News that it was “shocking” to hear reports that her sister-in-law pledged her allegiance to the Islamic State.
“I probably don’t believe the sister,” said Trump.
When Dickerson pressed him again on if he believed Khan, Trump reiterated, “No.”
Asked if he would “go after her,” Trump said “I would go after a lot of people and I’d find out whether or not they knew. I’d be able to find out. Because I don’t believe the sister.”
Dickerson asked Trump if worried that such harsh methods would create more terrorists.
“No. We have to stop terrorists,” Trump said. “And the only way we’re gonna stop them, in my opinion, is that way. You know, they say they don’t mind dying. I think they do mind dying. But I can tell you this: They want their families left alone. We have to stop terrorism.”
