"Mr. Trump is specifically talking about those we don't know anything about, where they are coming from," Pierson said, referring to the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack last December that precipitated Trump's call for a temporary ban. | Getty Trump camp: Muslim entry into U.S. depends on their 'intentions'

Though Donald Trump's temporary ban on Muslims from entering the United States would not include the newly elected Muslim mayor of London, the presumptive Republican nominee's national spokeswoman suggested Wednesday that other public figures, specifically athletes, could be subject to greater scrutiny if they wish to enter the country to compete.

"Well, again, it all depends on if we know their intentions," Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told CNN. "I'm not quite sure why people don't understand this concept."


As long as the U.S. "knows who they are, knows where they're coming from, if they have documents, then yes, those are individuals that could come to this country."

"Mr. Trump is specifically talking about those we don't know anything about, where they are coming from," Pierson said, referring to the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack last December that precipitated Trump's call for a temporary ban. "The individuals that came in from — that committed the San Bernardino crime, the woman that came in on the fiancée visa, they didn't know what country she came from originally. And that's a problem."

Trump has said that London Mayor Sadiq Khan would be permitted to enter the U.S., as "there will always be exceptions," he explained Monday to The New York Times.

During an interview with CNN earlier Wednesday, Khan said Trump's views of Islam are "ignorant," remarking that Islam is compatible with living in a Western nation and that to suggest otherwise plays into the hands of extremists.

Asked whether Trump would reconsider a ban on Muslims seeking to come to the U.S. on tourist visas, Pierson was firm.

"We do know that one of the 9/11 hijackers were here on a tourist visa. If we don't know who they are and where they are coming from, for example, the mayor is somebody that we would be able to know where they are coming from," Pierson said. "Mr. Trump is talking about those individuals that don't have a background, that don't have a history and don't know where they are coming from and intentions for that matter. For those people, yes, there is an expedited process. But other than that, we cannot just allow particularly that we know ISIS has been infiltrating these refugees, we cannot just continue to allow this influx of immigrants into this country without knowing what their intentions are."