“Do you believe that there is a danger now that because of your hot rhetoric about the topic and I agree with some of what you are saying, OK, you got to vet these people from overseas. You can’t let them all in, I agree. But you see that you could be contributing to a demonization of all Muslims in general? Is that possible?” Bill O’Reilly asked Trump on Fox News in an interview that aired Monday night.

Trump responded, “No, just the opposite. I really believe it’s just the opposite.”

“I have many friends, you know that, I’ve said it before, I have many friends who are Muslim,” Trump continued. “I get calls from many people thanking me, who are Muslim, thanking me — I have some incredible friends, some wonderful friends. Some are very successful, some aren’t, but I have many Muslim friends, and they’re thanking me, many of them, not all of them, but many of them.”