Carly Fiorina will deliver remarks via video at the Nevada National Security Action Summit next week despite the event’s host being the leading organization defending Donald Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. — a proposal Fiorina has suggested is unconstitutional.
The summit, scheduled for Monday, Dec. 14, is the fourth in a series of national security-centric summits organized this year by the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a Washington-based think tank founded by Frank Gaffney.
Gaffney is a leading anti-Islamic figure and member of the birther movement, who was condemned by the American Conservative Union in 2012 for suggesting two of its board members were agents of the Muslim Brotherhood. He is also an advocate of Trump’s proposal.
“We have called for a moratorium on the introduction of more Muslims, particularly from countries with a tradition of Islamic supremacism, until we have a basis on which to evaluate effectively, accurately, whether they are … actual or potential jihadists,” Gaffney said during a radio interview Tuesday.
“This is a test of common sense,” he added.
In a statement Monday announcing Trump’s proposal to temporarily halt the visitation or immigration of Muslims to the U.S., Trump’s campaign cited a survey of Muslim-Americans commissioned by Gaffney’s organization in June. The poll, which suggested that 25 percent of Muslims in the U.S. agree that “violence against Americans here in the United States can be justified as part of the global jihad,” has since been discredited by several news organizations.
While speaking to reporters during a campaign stop Monday in Iowa, Fiorina described Trump’s proposal as “a dangerous overreaction.” On Tuesday, she told supporters: “It’s a violation of our Constitution, but it also undermines the character of our nation.”
Less than 24 hours later, Fiorina reportedly accused Trump of seeking to reintroduce “internment camps for U.S. citizens” because he “doesn’t have a plan … for defeating ISIS.” She also hit fellow GOP contender Ted Cruz Tuesday for his refusal to address the constitutionality of Trump’s proposal.
“[Cruz] has been campaigning in Iowa a lot, and I haven’t heard him stand up for ethanol, but I also haven’t heard him stand up for the Constitution as Donald Trump is trampling it,” Fiorina said while campaigning in the Hawkeye State.
Fellow Republicans Rick Santorum and Ben Carson were the only other GOP candidates to confirm their participation in the summit next Monday while Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, George Pataki and Donald Trump have yet to indicate whether they plan to attend.
Carson told CNN Tuesday that he believes Trump’s plan is “unconstitutional,” while Santorum has said it is “not a workable idea.”
A spokeswoman for Fiorina’s campaign did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
