Muslim ban statement removed from Donald Trump's website

A statement on US President-elect Donald Trump's plan to ban all Muslims from entering the United States has been removed from his campaign website.

Trump’s December 2015 statement calling for a "total and complete shutdown" of Muslims vanished from the website on Wednesday, after the Republican presidential nominee beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the battle for the White House.    

The proposal, titled "Donald J. Trump Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration," read: "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.

"According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population."

"Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine," the statement continued.

The statement, however, was restored on Thursday afternoon, according to The Washington Post.

"The website was temporarily redirecting all specific press release pages to the homepage," Trump's campaign said in a statement to the newspaper. "It is currently being addressed and will be fixed shortly."

Trump stunned the world on Wednesday by defeating heavily favored Clinton in Tuesday's presidential election, sending the United States on a new, uncertain path.

Anti-Trump demonstrations and walkouts were staged on Wednesday across the US in which the participants slammed the billionaire’s divisive campaign rhetoric about undocumented immigrants, Muslims and other groups.

Trump’s election campaign had been marred by his disparaging remarks against minorities in the US. His comments include a call to ban all Muslims from coming to America as well as stopping Mexican migrants by building a long wall along the US-Mexico border.

He has also sought for a database to track Muslims across the United States and said that the US would have "absolutely no choice" but to close down mosques.

Trump’s proposal was widely condemned by Muslim and human rights groups as well as his Democratic rivals and many of his Republican proponents who describe the proposal as divisive, counterproductive and contrary to American values.

Professor Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in politics, told Press TV earlier this year that Trump was using rhetoric to get elected, and he would change his tune once in the White House.

He said Trump is “a supreme manipulator and self-professed ‘persuader’ who will change his tune when it serves his interests. For Trump to win in November he needs an overwhelming turnout of white déclassé males, his electoral base.”

“If Trump does manage to gain the presidency expect him to quickly backtrack on his more inflammatory positions,” Professor Etler said.

“If elected Trump will quickly resolve the issue surrounding the Muslim travel ban by saying that he has studied the issue and determined that stricter precautions will be implemented to ban ‘bad’ Muslims from entry while allowing ‘good’ Muslims in,” the pundit argued.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk