Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seemed to voice reluctant support for National Security Agency data collection, saying, “I err on the side of security.”
Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, host Joe Scarborough asked Trump, “Every time I pick up a phone, I assume people are listening to my conversations.”
Trump explained, “I don’t like it, but I have to make that assumption. I would really much err on the side of security. As a lot of people would agree with me on that.”
Scarborough asked Trump, “A lot of people in the intel community very concerned that [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] is closer to [crscore]Rand Paul[/crscore] than say a traditional Republican on issues of intel, whether it’s NSA, data collection. Do you think Ted Cruz is too weak on national security?”
“I’ve been watching this little debate between Rubio and Cruz, and I’ve loved it, because I haven’t been so involved,” said Trump. “It’s the one thing I haven’t been involved. Can you believe it? I’ve loved watching it. And they seem to be attacking themselves very strongly because somebody wants to be standing to challenge me. [Ben] Carson has now faded badly.”
Scarborough followed up: “What about though on the issue that I brought up, though? Do you think the NSA should have the ability to collect all the data that it was able to before?”
Trump suggested, “Well, I err on the side of security, Joe. You know, it’s a very interesting issue. But I happen to be — and I’ve been there from the beginning, I’ve been there from before the Paris attack. After every attack, everybody says exactly this. I err on the side of security. I err on the side of security.”