Carson Would Support Monitoring Of 'Anti-American' Groups

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says he would support government monitoring of any group deemed radical and "anti-American."

Carson made his comments Saturday when asked about rival Donald Trump's suggestion that he'd monitor American Muslims as part of the government's counterterrorism effort against Islamic State militants.

Carson says he would be in favor of monitoring "a mosque or any church or any organization or any school or any press corps where there was a lot radicalization and things that were anti-American."

The retired neurosurgeon did not expound on how he would judge public discourse. He also did not mention whether he thought such government action would violate First Amendment protections of speech and religious exercise.

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