Donald Trump said Monday that he's "never had a problem with Muslims," but still, he thinks people are out of line for criticizing him for not defending President Barack Obama's citizenship or his faith during a town hall meeting last week.
"It's an amazing problem," the GOP front-runner told
NBC "Today" show correspondent Savannah Guthrie. "It's a very big problem and I fully understand that Muslims are great people, and I have many friends — they're great friends. By the way, they're concerned with radical Islam, too."
Story continues below video.
Last week, during an event in Rochester, New Hampshire,
Trump called on a man in the audience who said: "We have a problem in this country. It's called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American."
Trump is under fire from both his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination and from Democrats for not correcting the man, but he told Guthrie on Monday he assumed the man "was talking about radical Islam."
He also told Guthrie that he does not believe he is obligated to defend Obama on faith or citizenship, and that the president doesn't defend him.
"Is the president going to defend me because last night during the Emmy awards people said things about me?" Trump said. "Is the president going to hold a news conference and defend me? I don't think so."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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