Leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared on US breakfast television and compared his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US to policies implemented during World War Two.

Mr Trump said on Monday that he wanted to implement the ban after attacks in Paris and California, and defended the ban, despite an outcry.

"What I'm doing is no different than FDR," Mr Trump said on ABC's Good Morning America, likening himself to President Franklin Roosevelt who forcibly detained 110,000 people in government detention camps.

He said the policies would be temporary, but noted that "we have people that want to blow up our buildings" and "we have to figure out what's going on".