President-elect Trump doesn’t want to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, just Muslims coming from countries with a history of terrorism, his new White House counselor said Thursday.
Kellyanne Conway said on ABC that Trump’s plans for “extreme vetting” doesn’t involve a complete ban on Muslims coming to the United States. She said Trump plans to focus on countries, not individual people.
“He said during the campaign, long after he originally proposed that, this would be more strictly tied to countries where they have a history of terrorism and this is not a complete ban,” she said.
Speaking on Fox News later, Conway said there’s no reason why the U.S. should sit on its hands while terrorist attacks continue when it’s clear where the attackers are coming from.
“If you know there’s reasonable cause, as we say here, then why would you just sit back?” she said.
Conway emphasized that Trump wants to be the “people’s president,” which is why he fought back against the estimated $4 billion price tag for two new Air Force Ones being built by Boeing. Boeing’s CEO announced Wednesday after meeting with Trump that the planes would fall below that estimated price, and Conway said it’s an example of how Trump plans to govern.
“He ran on that and he won on that, so expect more of that,” she said. “He’s the people’s president.”
Trump announced Thursday Conway would take a job in the West Wing as his counselor, and while Conway is confident she’s making the right choice, at least one person in her family isn’t so happy about the move.
Conway told Fox one of her daughters has started an online petition to keep the family from moving to D.C. and it currently has a little more than 120 signatures. Conway said her daughter is a future political operative in the making.
“I appreciate her moxie,” Conway said. “I think she’ll love being there.”
