The running mate of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says Trump has backed away from his call for a total ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Vice presidential running mate Mike Pence said on October 6 that the provocative proposal was "not Donald Trump's position now."
In December, after an Islamic State-inspired mass shooting in California by a Muslim couple, Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
In recent months, Trump has said he would suspend immigration from countries where Islamist militants are active.
But he has been vague about whether he was narrowing or expanding his original policy position.
Pence said during television interviews on October 6 that, if elected on November 8, Trump would suspend immigration from "countries that have been compromised by terrorism."
Asked if this amounted to a ban on Muslims, Pence told MSNBC's Morning Joe program: "Of course not."