Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told a Facebook livestream Monday that the U.S. government should revoke the citizenship of anyone who pledges allegiance to the Islamic State.
“When somebody says, ‘I am pledging allegiance to ISIS,’ they’re a traitor, and we need to adopt laws that make clear, you pledge allegiance to a country other than the United States, you’re a traitor,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich also categorized the shooting in Orlando that left 50 dead, including the shooter himself, and 53 injured as “an act of war.”
“It made perfect sense if you are an Islamic supremacist trying to attack the United States,” he added.
Donald Trump re-upped his call for a ban on Muslim immigration during a speech Monday, saying, “The only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here.”
Gingrich, who has been rumored to be on Trump’s shortlist for vice president, largely echoed Trump’s sentiment.
“I think that Trump was right to say, certainly if you describe it narrowly, that there are places, any place which has a strong commitment to sharia, is a place where we should be very careful in vetting who comes here.”
Asked about information-sharing between the FBI and local law enforcement, Gingrich said the Obama administration was “so pro-Muslim” and “so unwilling to look at evidence that it has really made it difficult” for people to report anything they find suspicious in the fear that they will be seen as Islamophobic.
He further stated that, “We had better get used to discriminating against fanatics who hate us.”
