Trump defends call for banning Muslims from United States
None
LAS VEGAS - Republican front-runner Donald Trump defended his provocative call for banning Muslims from the United States in Tuesday night's presidential debate as the candidates pushed their own plans for fighting Islamic State militants.
The debate was dominated by national security, reflecting the reshaping of the 2016 presidential contest by the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.
Trump insisted his proposal, which was roundly condemned by his rivals, wasn't an attempt to discriminate.
"We are not talking about isolation, we're talking about security," he said. "We are not talking about religion, we are talking about security."
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush dismissed Trump's proposal as unserious, saying, "Donald is great at the one-liners, but he's a chaos candidate and he'd be a chaos president." But Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said they understood why Trump had raised the idea and avoided directly criticizing the front-runner.
