Jeb: ‘Can’t’ Envision Shutting Down Mosques Without ‘Identified Threats’ To National Security, Should Be ‘Cautious’

Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush stated that he can’t envision a circumstance in which he would shut down a mosque “unless there is identified threats to the national security of our country” and stated, “I have confidence in the FBI doing their job” regarding greater surveillance of mosques during an interview broadcast on Tuesday’s edition of Bloomberg TV’s “With All Due Respect.”

Jeb was asked, “Let me ask you about Donald Trump real quick. He said yesterday that we may need to surveil some mosques in the United States in a more intense way than we do now. And he’s open to the idea of even shutting some of those mosques down. How do you feel about that issue?”

He responded, “I have confidence in the FBI doing their job, protecting civil liberties, and doing their job. Donald Trump’s been all over the map on the question of ISIS. He at one point said, let Russia take ISIS out and then he said, let ISIS take Assad out. Now he wants to bomb ISIS. He doesn’t want to send — he doesn’t want to create a strategy and have the United States military lead an effort. It’s a pretty good example of why he can’t be trusted being president of the United States, in my mind.”

When asked if he could, “envision any circumstances where you would say, ‘Yeah, mosques should be shut down?'” Jeb answered, “No. I can’t, unless there is identified threats to the national security of our country. I think we’ve got to be cautious about the world we’re moving towards. This is to protect our freedom, not to take freedom away.”

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