Electoral battles

Trump backs surveillance of mosques despite criticism of rhetoric

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday called for surveillance of mosques as part of U.S. law enforcement efforts to prevent terrorism, and stood by his remarks on banning Muslim immigrants, which others in his party have criticized.

Trump repeated his call for a temporary ban on the entry of Muslims into the United States after a U.S.-born Muslim, the son of Afghan immigrants, fatally shot 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando early on Sunday.

The New York real estate developer said that while the Florida gunman was born in the United States, "his parents weren't and his ideas weren't born here."

"We have to maybe check, respectfully, the mosques and we have to check other places because this is a problem that, if we don't solve it, it's going to eat our country alive," Trump said at a rally in Atlanta.