Kerry blasts Trump on Muslim ban

Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday said Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States will be used a recruiting tool for radical terrorist groups.

{mosads}Kerry said the Republican front-runner’s recent comments run contrary to American values and the Constitution.

“But I also think it’s a very dangerous foreign policy because it says to those in Islam who are trying to exploit people and recruit foreign fighters and otherwise, it says look, look at America,” Kerry said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Trump said that the United States should close the U.S. border to Muslims following a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., on Dec. 2, when Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik opened fire and killed 14 people at his workplace during a holiday party.

“Here they’ve got a guy running for president who is waging war against Islam,” Kerry said.

“That’s their impression. It’s exploitable, whether he intended it or not. And it allows for recruitment. It allows for America to seem like it is indeed discriminatory against Islam, against Muslims.”

Kerry also said Trump’s stance is “highly discriminating against many Americans and others who are Muslim.”

“And many people in the world who know that their religion has been hijacked and who want to recoup it,” he said.

“So I think it’s got a huge downside in terms of American foreign policy, and I hear this from foreign ministers and others as I travel and engage with people in various countries.”