Donald Trump has "exposed the members of Congress for their failure in protecting the homeland" and that is why he is resonating strongly with American voters, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik told
Newsmax TV on Tuesday.
"Why aren't the borders secure?" Kerik, who commanded the city's officers during 9/11, asked "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth. "How did this woman get into the country on a K-1 visa, investigated by everyone under the sun and it turns out she's a radical extremist?"
Kerik was referring to Tashfeen Malik, 29, who killed 14 people and injured 21 others in the San Bernardino shooting rampage last week.
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Malik, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group on Facebook before the shootings at the Inland Regional Center with her husband, Syed Farook, 28, immigrated to the United States from Pakistan on a K-1 visa.
The visa is issued to men or women who seek to come to the U.S. to marry a citizen. Farook was born in Illinois.
The couple, who met online in 2013, was killed hours after the rampage in a gun battle with police.
"How are we going to bring in tens of thousands of refugees if we don't have the ability to properly vet them and investigate them?" Kerik asked. "That's what Trump exposes."
Kerik's new book is
"From Jailer to Jailed: My Journey from Correction and Police Commissioner to Inmate #84888-054."
He said that he did not agree with Trump and questioned his call for banning all Muslims until the nation's terrorism concerns are fully addressed.
"Personally, I don't think that we should stop all immigration or temporarily stop all immigration of Muslims," Kerik said.
"However, it raises a much bigger question: Do we have the ability to properly vet and investigate those coming into this country and if we don't, one, why don't we? And two, what are we doing about it?
"He is outright exposing their inability to protect the United States of America," Kerik said of the Republican presidential front-runner. "And until they do, what do you do about it?"
Kerik also slammed former CIA officer Clare Lopez's recent suggestion that the term "radicalization" be abolished.
"I don't know if we should [stop using the term] because then you lump all Muslims into one category and that's wrong," he told Hayworth. "There are moderate Muslims in the world. There are law-abiding American Muslims in the world, in this country.
"To eliminate that, you then classify every Muslims as problematic — and I don't think we should be doing that."
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