Donald Trump: US Muslim ban would not include all Muslims, says campaign spokeswoman

A spokewoman for Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has insisted that the proposed ban on Muslims entering the US suggested by the GOP candidate would not include all Muslims.

Katrina Pierson, speaking on behalf of the Trump campaign, told CNN the suggested ban would never intended to be on every Muslim attempting to enter the US, but would instead be an attempt to stop people who could not be vetted from coming into the country.

"I know the news media has been reporting that the initial ban was against all Muslims, and that was simply not the case – it was simply for Muslim immigration," she said. "Mr Trump still wants to stop individuals from coming into this country who cannot be vetted," she added.

However, the news channel played a clip of Trump's initial statement, when he said: "Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of all Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."

Since then, Trump has reiterated his commitment to an all-Muslim ban, although he openly stated he would make an exception for London mayor Sadiq Khan, and has more recently said the ban would not apply to all Muslims. He has been accused of flip-flopping on the issue.

However, Pierson claimed that Trump's statement was simply a line from an immigration policy and added that the GOP candidate did not want to "allow individuals to come into this country and essentially create home-grown terrorism".