Donald Trump's proposed Muslim travel ban could include people trying to travel to the United States from countries such as Pakistan, Egypt and Syria, GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions said Sunday.
In an interview with CNN's
"State of the Union," the Alabama senator said Trump's intention with the temporary ban is to "slow down" immigration while officials conduct anti-terror investigations.
"The public data that we have indicate there are quite a number of countries in that region that have sent a large number of people that have become terrorists ... Pakistan has a number, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen," Sessions said.
Sessions said any ban would probably have exceptions, including for businesspeople and diplomats.
Trump reiterated his call for a Muslim ban in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla., saying as president he'd "suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats."
"He simply said, and the way I understand it is, that we should slow down," Sessions said.
"Let's have a pause and begin to analyze where the threats are coming from. We have a toxic ideology, hopefully very small within Islam; certainly most people, most Muslims don't agree with this violent, jihadist approach. And we need to figure out a better way to identify that."