Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said in an interview Wednesday that he would consider shuttering some U.S. mosques in order to counter extremism.
Trump’s remarks came during an interview on Fox Business with Stuart Varney. When asked if he would follow new British proposals for countering extremism that include revoking the passports of people who travel to fight with ISIS and shuttering mosques that support extremism, Trump responded: “I would do that, absolutely, I think it’s great.”
When Varney pressed and asked if Trump could legally shut down mosques given U.S. protections for religious freedom, Trump backpedalled slightly. “Well, I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, I haven’t heard about the closing of the mosque. It depends, if the mosque is, you know, loaded for bear, I don’t know. You’re going to have to certainly look at it.”
Varney also asked Trump what he thought about raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
“One of the reasons companies are leaving is because salaries are too high,” Trump said. ” … So we have to be very very careful with that, that sounds so easy, but we have to be very competitive or we’re going to lose all of our jobs in this country.”
Watch the interview below:
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Write to Tanya Basu at tanya.basu@time.com