WASHINGTON — Top Donald Trump surrogate Sen. Jeff Sessions on Sunday called for tougher screenings of Muslims coming into the United States in the wake of the mass shooting at a gay Orlando nightclub.
“It certainly looks like another one of the extremist attacks, Islamic extremism,” Sessions (R-Ala.) told Fox News Sunday.
“There’s just within the wonderful group of Islamic people, a certain group of radicals and it’s been there for a long time and it seems to be growing. We have to accept that fact.”
Sessions said the attack, that left “approximately” 50 people dead and 53 wounded will mean “further movement in the direction Donald Trump has set forth.”
Trump has pledged to wipe out ISIS and called for ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Initial police reports say the gunman at Pulse nightclub was armed with an assault-style weapon, a handgun and some other “device.”
The FBI is investigating the mass shooting as terrorism and suggested the gunman may have “leanings” toward Islamic extremism.
“It’s not stopping, as we see apparently today,” Sessions said.
“More of these attacks are coming. It’s a real part of the threat that we face. If can’t address it openly and directly and say directly there is an extremist element within Islam that’s dangerous to the world and has to be confronted. We need to slow down and be careful about those we admit into the country.”
For his part, Trump didn’t yet jump to any conclusions: “Really bad shooting in Orlando. Police investigating possible terrorism. Many people dead and wounded,” Trump tweeted.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton tweeted: “Woke up to hear the devastating news from FL. As we wait for more information, my thoughts are with those affected by this horrific act. -H.”
President Obama was briefed on the shooting by Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.
“The president asked to receive regular updates as the FBI, and other federal officials, work with the Orlando Police to gather more information, and directed that the federal government provide any assistance necessary to pursue the investigation and support the community,” the White House said in a statement.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said “it’s just too early to know” what happened and expressed caution on jumping to conclusions on Muslims.
“You don’t want to indict an entire religion. You don’t want to indict an entire community over lone wolves,” the Clinton supporter told Fox News Sunday.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders called for gun control.
“I believe that in this country, we should not be selling automatic weapons which are designed to kill people,” Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate, told “Meet the Press.”
“We have got to do everything that we can on top of that to make sure that guns do not fall into the hands of people who should not have them, criminals, people who are mentally ill. So that struggles continues.”