WASHINGTON _ Reince Priebus, President-elect Trump's designated chief of staff, defended remarks that top advisers to the new administration have made about Islam, saying Sunday that "clearly there are some aspects of that faith that are problematic."
Asked about comments made by retired Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's national security adviser, that Islam was a political ideology masked behind a religion, Priebus said on ABC that "phrasing can always be done differently."
But he praised Flynn as "an unbelievably gifted, smart person" who has Trump's confidence.
In a separate interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Priebus said Trump believes that "no faith in and of itself should be judged as a whole. But there are some people in countries abroad that ... need to be prevented from coming into this country."
Asked about Trump's suggestion during his campaign that Muslims might be required to register with government officials, Priebus avoided a clear answer.
"I'm not going to rule out anything. ... But, but I wouldn't _ we're not going to have a registry based on a religion," he said. "But what I think what we're trying to do is say that there are some people, certainly not all people ... there are some people that are radicalized, and there are some people that have to be prevented from coming into this country."
