Donald Trump's speech on Islam being drafted by 'Muslim ban' architect Stephen Miller

Samuel Osborne
Updated
Donald Trump's speech on Islam being drafted by 'Muslim ban' architect Stephen Miller

Donald Trump's speech on Islam is being drafted by Stephen Miller, who previously drafted the administration's failed travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.

The speech on combating radical Islam is to be given to around 50 Muslim leaders during the President's first official visit to Saudi Arabia.

The President will “will deliver an inspiring but direct speech on the need to confront radical ideology and the president’s hopes for a peaceful vision of Islam to dominate across the world,” national security adviser H R McMaster said.

“The speech is intended to unite the broader Muslim world against common enemies of all civilization and to demonstrate America’s commitment to our Muslim partners,” he added.

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Mr Miller, who is senior adviser to the President, played a key role in drafting the Trump administration's ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries, which was denounced as a ban on Muslims.

He also reportedly wrote Mr Trump's inauguration speech, though the President claims he wrote it himself.

While he was a student at Duke University, Mr Miller co-founded the Terrorism Awareness Project, an initiative run by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, which has been accused of ties to anti-Muslim hate groups, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

At the time, Mr Miller said the project was aimed at educating students about the risk of "Islamofascism".

Mr Trump's speech will also have input from his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, Mr McMaster and his deputy national security adviser Dina Powell, CNN reports.

Saudi Arabia was not on the list of seven Muslim-majority countries affected by the President's ban.

Mr Trump's executive order was later struck down by federal courts.

The President previously proposed to ban all Muslims from entering the US and claimed he saw Muslims "clapping and cheering" as the Twin Towers fell.

On his first foreign trip, he will visit Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican, Brussels and Sicily.