Getty Trump calls for taking in Syrian refugees

The United States should take in some refugees from Syria, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Tuesday night.

"I hate the concept of it, but on a humanitarian basis, you have to," Trump said in his first Fox News appearance in two weeks, appearing on "The O'Reilly Factor."


"This was started by President Obama when he didn't go in and do the job he should have when he drew the line in the sand, which turned out to be a very artificial line," Trump said in reference to Obama's red-line warning to Syrian leader Bashar Assad in 2013. "But you know, it's living in hell in Syria. There's no question about it. They're living in hell, and something has to be done."

Asked if he would have removed Assad, Trump said "something should have happened" after it was revealed that he used sarin gas on his own people.

"Probably, in retrospect, they should have gone in and done something with Assad. But you know, Assad is not our biggest problem because Assad and ISIS are actually fighting," Trump explained. "So now what we're doing is we're fighting ISIS and ISIS wants to fight Assad. Some people could say, 'Why don't you just let them fight out and you take out the remnants?'"

On the domestic front, Trump reiterated that Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis should not be in her particular line of work if she does not want to issue marriage licenses to same-sex marriage licenses.

"It was too bad she had to be put in jail, and I'm a very, very strong believer in Christianity and religion, but I will say that this was not the right job for her because we had a ruling from the Supreme Court, and we are a country of laws, and you have to do what the Supreme Court ultimately — whether you like the decision or not, and it was a 5-4 decision," he continued. "Whether you like the decision or not, you have to go along with the Supreme Court. So that's the way it is."

Asked his opinion on the Black Lives Matter movement, Trump was blunt.

"Well I think it's very simple: All lives matter. Whether it's black or white and how they're getting away with this murder," he said.

Elaborating on the movement itself, Trump said the people involved are "looking for trouble."

"I looked at a couple of people that were interviewed from the group. I saw them with hate coming down the street last week talking about cops and police and what should be done to 'em, and that was not good. And I think it's a disgrace that they're getting away with it," he remarked, adding, "It's disgraceful the way they're being catered to by the Democrats, and it's going to end up kicking them you know where. I don't think it's going to end up good."

Those Democrats "are unfit to run for office, in my opinion," Trump added.

O'Reilly then played a clip of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican, saying that he did not mind the slogan or the movement.

Trump's response: "He's wrong. He's totally wrong."

If all lives matter, O'Reilly then asked Trump, why do you not support cutting off funding from Planned Parenthood?

Trump's response: I never said that. "You have bad researchers, what can I tell you?"

“A lot of people say it’s an abortion clinic. I’m opposed to that. And I wouldn’t do any funding as long as they are performing abortions. And they are performing abortions. So I would be opposed to funding. I would be totally opposed to funding," Trump said.

But the Republican candidate told Fox News' Sean Hannity last month that "we have to look at the positive" aspects of Planned Parenthood's work and said that abortions are a "fairly small part of what they do."

O'Reilly responded to Trump's comment on his program Wednesday night, saying that he was simply quoting from a statement from the group's spokesman last month praising the candidate for his position.

"Now here's the truth of the matter: Trump's against using public money to fund abortions. He's made that quite clear. But he has also said some kind things about Planned Parenthood. But I believe he would vote to cut off public funding for the group," O'Reilly said. "I could be wrong on that, but the report that I cited was there, and I wanted you all to know."