Muslim congressman Keith Ellison says he rejects Sen. Ted Cruz's refusal to denounce Donald Trump's call to ban Muslims from entering the United States, declaring "this is the moment where real integrity is on the line."
In an interview on
MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports," the Democratic House lawmaker from Minnesota declares "people have to step up."
"This is the moment we're in and I don't accept Sen. Cruz saying, 'Well, I'm not going to pile on, I don't really agree,'" Ellison said. "No, this is the moment where real integrity is on the line.
"And people have to step up and say that persecuting a religious minority and scapegoating them is absolutely unacceptable. That's the moment we're in."
Ellison also said he was "proud" of Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's
rejection of a Muslim ban as "Speaker of the House of all of America."
The Texas Republican senator, though opposing a Muslim entry ban,
refuses to condemn his front-running rival for proposing the idea.
"A lot of our friends here have encouraged me to criticize and attack Donald Trump," Cruz has said. "I'm not interested in doing so."
Ellison said Muslim Americans are troubled by Trump's rhetoric.
"People are very concerned," he said.
"It's obviously something that's frightening [and] worrisome. Many are wondering, 'Will our responsible leaders denounce this much the same way that [former President] George W. Bush did right after 9/11 when fear of backlash was ever-present?' "
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