Trump Suggests He May Appoint Rudy Giuliani To Head A Commission On “Radical Islamic Terrorism”

Trump: “I’m Thinking About Setting Up A Commission” To Look At “Radical Islamic Terrorism” And A “Temporary” Muslim Ban, “Perhaps Headed By Rudy Giuliani.” While defending his plan for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States, Trump said he may create a commission led by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuilani in order “study a problem” of “radical Islamic terrorism.” From the May 11 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): What about the temporary Muslim ban?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, we have a ban, there are obviously some very bad things going on. And we're going to figure out what's going on and we're going to be very, very careful. We are allowing Syrians to come in here. We have no idea who they are, we have no paperwork. There's no documentation. They're pouring into the country, our country, by the thousands. You see what's happening in Germany. It's a mess. You look at Sweden and some of these other countries that are taking them, it's a total mess. And I want to be very, very careful. So I'm going to be extremely vigilant and careful.

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): But careful is one thing, but also you also have saluted the Kurds in the past. You also mentioned the London mayor who won an election, that you wish him the best. So to make a swooping comment about all Muslims, Donald Trump disliking them, that’s not correct either. Correct?

TRUMP: It's a temporary ban, Brian, and we’re going to look at it, and we’re going to study a problem. We have a problem. Now, if you don't want to discuss the problem, then we're never going to solve the problem. We have a president that won't even use the term radical Islamic terrorism. He won't even use the term. He refuses to say the term, even after Paris where 130 people were killed or San Bernardino or any other place. He refuses -- our president refuses to discuss the term. And it's a real -- it's a real problem. Not only here but throughout the world. It's a real problem. So we'll figure it out, and we will get it going. But we have to be extremely careful. In fact, I'm thinking about setting up a commission, perhaps headed by Rudy Giuliani to take a very serious look at this problem. But this is a worldwide problem. And we have to be smart. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 5/11/16]

Rudy Giuliani Has A Long Record Of Anti-Muslim Comments

Giuliani: Ted Cruz Is “Right” To Suggest Patrolling “Some” Muslim Neighborhoods. Rudy Giuliani said then-Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) call to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods” in an effort to fight terrorism was “right” on the March 24 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

STEVE DOOCY (HOST): In the wake of the Brussels attack, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump both agree that maybe there should be some patrolling of Muslim areas in the United States. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani used to survey and surveil the mosques here. So does it work?

RUDY GIULIANI: Well sure, I started that policy in 1994, because the bombing in 1993 of the World Trade Center was planned in a mosque in New Jersey.

[...]

GIULIANI: The sheik was preaching and if you worked your way in and you got into a couple of the private meetings, you pick up plenty of information. That's for example how the blind sheik was prosecuted and put in jail for 100 years. That's how they thwarted a plan in the 1990's to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge. The Holland Tunnel.

BRIAN KILMEADE (HOST): What do you say to Bill Bratton?

GIULIANI: Why do you think my police commissioner at the time, first thing he did on September 11 was close down the bridges and tunnels to New Jersey? You know why he did that?

AINSLEY EARHARDT (HOST): Why?

GIULIANI: Because of the information we were getting from the mosques in New Jersey. He was afraid that that was going to unleash a group of cells in New Jersey, come into New York and do a bunch of small bombings.

[...]

DOOCY: What about Ted Cruz saying that we be should be patrolling certain Muslim neighborhoods in the United States? That's what he's gotten a lot of push back on.

GIULIANI: Put the word some in and you're right. They shouldn't patrol every Muslim neighborhood. Most of them, like in New York City, most of the Muslim neighborhoods are extremely safe, decent neighborhoods. We do not have a radicalized Muslim population particularly in New York City. Certain parts of New Jersey there's a radicalized Muslim population and every once in awhile in New York. So you've got to keep the option open of surveilling mosques. What Catholic priest, what Jewish rabbi, what Protestant minister would care if I had a police officer -- they'd like it. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/24/16]

Giuliani: Muslims Need A “Reformation.” Giuliani stated that the Muslim community needs an “intellectual debate” because radical Muslims “have a certain interpretation of the Quran and Hadith, which scholars, their scholars, can justify.” Giuliani concluded that a “counter-reformation, or a reformation, wouldn't be bad.” From the January 7 edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

GIULIANI: OK, this is like the Mafia. Most Italian-Americans had nothing to do with the Mafia. But there was a Mafia, and it was big, and it was powerful, and it killed hundreds of people.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI (HOST): But they weren't called Italian-Americans.

GIULIANI: Oh they sure were.

BRZEZINSKI: No, I'm saying they were called the Mafia.

GIULIANI: That's an Italian word.

BRZEZINSKI: No, but I think there's a problem with Muslims in terms of some --

GIULIANI: No, the analogy would be --

BRZEZINSKI: -- especially some political candidates, who are lumping them all together.

GIULIANI: Candidates aren't lumping them together. They're lumping themselves together. They're organizing under the principle of Islam. They are organized because they have a certain interpretation of the Quran and Hadith, which scholars, their scholars, can justify. Do they constitute the majority of Muslims? Absolutely not. Do most Muslims reject it? Absolutely. But are they organized under the principle of being Muslims? The answer is yes. Just like it wasn't a vast majority of Italians but they were organized under the principle of being an Italian-American. You couldn't join unless you were an Italian-American.

SCARBOROUGH: So again, the question I'm getting to is --

BRZEZINSKI: Right, but you wouldn't put a ban on Italians coming to America.

SCARBOROUGH: I'm not trying to get into a debate that we've had in the rear-view mirror. It's how do we get the most Muslim-Americans engaged who are on our side anyway? Don't want to ask --

GIULIANI: Talking to them, organizing them, encouraging them to step up more, encouraging them to act against radical Islam. Explain intellectually and ideologically and theologically why this is repugnant to the way in which in the Hadith should now be interpreted. Those are the books that explicate the Quran. We need that kind of intellectual debate within the Muslim community. A counter-reformation, or a reformation, wouldn't be bad. A Martin Luther with a different name might not be a bad thing to come along right now. Gosh, the nuns in Catholic school would have beaten me up if they heard me say that. [MSNBC, Morning Joe, 1/7/16]

Giuliani: Germany's Mass Sexual Assault Shows Us That “The Reality Is That These Refugees Are Inherently A Problem.” Giuliani declared that Middle Eastern “refugees are inherently a problem” and said a mass sexual assault that occurred in Germany revealed that terrorists' “game plan is as much homegrown terrorism as possible.” From the January 7 edition of Fox News’ Hannity:

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): Concerns over accepting refugees are growing after a wave of alleged sexual assaults and robberies were reported during the New Year's Eve celebrations in the German city of Cologne. Now according to reports, German police say victims describe the perpetrators as gangs of Arab or North African men and German media is also reporting that some of the men involved claim to be Syrian refugees, although German officials say there is no solid evidence that refugees in fact were involved. Joining us now, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Mayor, talking about over 100 women, coordinated sexual attacks. It's clear from the people that were there that they did not speak German or English. So it seems like they are in denial there.

RUDY GIULIANI: Sounds kind of similar to the White House right? The whole thing about workplace violence and all that nonsense. The reality is that these refugees are inherently a problem because there is no question that ISIS, Al Qaeda, or similar groups will take advantage of an influx this large to slip in, I would say a substantial number of people. We now know their game plan. The game plan is as much homegrown terrorism as possible. This gives them kind of a big jump ahead in being able to do that. [Fox News, Hannity, 1/7/16]

Giuliani: “We Should All Thank” Rep. Peter King For Holding Anti-Muslim Hearings. Giuliani discussed 2011 hearings held by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) on Muslim radicalization in the United States, saying, “Pete King performed a great service for this country” with his anti-Muslim hearings “and I think we should all thank him.” From the March 11, 2011, edition of Fox News’ Hannity:

RUDY GIULIANI: I think Pete King performed a great service for this country. And I think we should all thank him. I wish that hearing had been held three years ago. Maybe there wouldn't have been an attack like the one at Fort Hood, if we'd had had a hearing like this. Maybe the people who made the decisions to move the major along wouldn't have made those decisions if they hadn't been so frightened that they would be put under the same kind of scrutiny that Pete King was put under, because he just raised a very legitimate question. [Fox News, Hannity, 3/11/11]

Giuliani Has Repeatedly Used His Fox Platform To Make Incendiary Comments About Race

Giuliani Has Cited “Misleading” And “False” Statistics About Race And Crime. During a November 2014 appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Giuliani touted the statistic that “93 percent of blacks in America are killed by other blacks.” Giuliani also said, “White police officers won't be there [in black areas] if you weren't killing each other 70 percent of the time.” The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog called Giuliani's talking point “misleading” and said it “lacks significant context.” During an appearance on Fox News' Fox & Friends to discuss the outcry over his Meet The Press comments, Giuliani claimed “only about 3 percent of whites kill blacks. They go to jail at approximately the same percentage as blacks go to jail. The conviction rate is almost exactly the same. The difference is, it's a very rare exception when a white kills a black.” PunditFact rated rated Giuliani's claim about conviction rates by race “false.” [Media Matters, 12/5/14]

Rudy Giuliani: Beyoncé's “Outrageous” Performance Was Just A “Platform To Attack” Police Officers. Giuliani called Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performance “outrageous,” and claimed that Beyoncé used the Super Bowl “as a platform to attack” police officers. Giuliani concluded that he wanted to see “decent wholesome entertainment” rather than Beyoncé's “platform to attack” police. From the February 8 edition Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

ANNA KOOIMAN (HOST): So we're going to go ahead and show you some video then of Beyoncé's performance with Coldplay and Bruno Mars. But Beyoncé got a police escort there and then she gives a salute to the Black Lives Matter movement. DeRay Mckesson tweeted out, "#Formation shout-outs to Malcolm X & MJ were excellent." It was a nod to 1966 founding of the Black Panther Party. What did you think of that?

RUDY GIULIANI: I think it was outrageous. The halftime show I thought was ridiculous anyway. I don't know what the heck it was. A bunch of people bouncing around and all strange things. It was terrible.

BRIAN KILMEADE (HOST): Coldplay and Bruno Mars --

GIULIANI: Actually don't even know why we have this. I mean, this is football.

STEVE DOOCY (HOST): You got to do something at halftime.

GIULIANI: This is football, not Hollywood, and I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as a platform to attack police officers who are the people who protect her and protect us, and keep us alive. And what we should be doing in the African-American community, and all communities, is build up respect for police officers. And focus on the fact that when something does go wrong, okay. We'll work on that. But the vast majority of police officers risk their lives to keep us safe.

KILMEADE: Mr. Mayor, I also look at the NFL. What do they do? They took control of the halftime because they didn't like what MTV was doing after Janet Jackson got her, her --

DOOCY: Wardrobe malfunction.

KOOIMAN: Wardrobe malfunction.

KILMEADE: After that happened. So didn't they go and review this and say wait a second, why are you -

GIULIANI: Can't you figure out who you're putting on? I mean this is a political position, she's probably going to take advantage of it. You're talking to middle America when you have the Super Bowl, so you can have entertainment. Let's have, you know, decent wholesome entertainment, and not use it as a platform to attack the people who, you know, put their lives at risk to save us. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 2/8/16]

Giuliani Suggested “More Responsibility Is On The Black Community” To Reduce Tensions With Police. Giuliani placed “more responsibility” on black communities to reduce police tension because “blacks commit murder eight times more per capita.” From the November 30, 2014, edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Fox News Sunday:

WALLACE: Mayor, let me move you on to the bigger issue, though. Because I want you to take a look at a poll that we found. 70 percent of blacks say people in their community are treated less fairly than whites in dealing with the police. Only 37 percent of whites make the same complaint. Question, do you think that blacks have a legitimate complaint about racial discrimination by police in their communities?

GIULIANI: Yes, I do. I do believe that there is more intereaction and more unfair intereaction between police officers, white and black, in the black community than in the white community. And I think some of that responsibility is on the police department. And on police departments to train their police officers better and to make their police departments much more diversified. But I think just as much if not more responsibility is on the black community to reduce the reason why the police officers are assigned in such large numbers to the black community. It's because blacks commit murder eight times more per capita than any other group in our society. And when I assigned police officers with Commissioner Bratton and Commissioner Safir, we did it based on statistics. We didn't do it based on race. If there were a lot of murders in a community, we put a lot of police officers there. If I had put all of my police officers on Park Avenue and none in Harlem, thousands and thousands more blacks would have been killed during the 8 years that I was mayor. [Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox News Sunday, 11/30/14]