Donald Trump to evangelicals: We don't know 'anything about Hillary in terms of religion'

At a Times Square hotel on Tuesday, Donald Trump met with nearly 1,000 conservative Christian leaders for a few hours in a closed-door conference designed to assuage evangelical Christians' concerns about the presumptive GOP candidate. The reactions from all parties was positive, from the initial standing ovation for Trump to the public reaction afterward from several evangelical leaders, who said they are more excited about Trump than before the meeting. The press was not invited and participants were told not to take pictures, but this is 2016 and E.W. Jackson, a Virginia radio host and lead pastor at Exodus Faith Ministries, tweeted out some comments and videos from the event.

In one video, Trump, a Presbyterian, tells the crowd they don't know "anything about Hillary in terms of religion. You know, she's been in public eye for years and years, and yet there's no, there's nothing out there. There's like nothing out there." If Clinton, a Methodist who has quoted Bible verses and discussed how her faith has influenced her on the campaign trail, becomes president, Trump added, "it's going to be an extension of Obama, but it's going to be worse because with Obama you had your guard up, with Hillary you don't. And it's going to be worse." He also suggested attendees pray for "one specific person" to be elected.

After the meeting, Jackson told The Associated Press that Trump was talking about how conservatives are judged for their religious piety while "liberals and the Democrats don't get those kinds of questions, they don't get their faith examined in that way." With Clinton, Jackson added, "He wasn't questioning her Christianity, but he was questioning the implications of her faith, compared to how conservatives tend to have their faith examined."

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Evangelical Christians are an important voting bloc for Republican presidential candidates, and before the conference Trump met with and unveiled his campaign's Evangelical Executive Advisory Board, which will advise Trump "on those issues important to Evangelicals and other people of faith in America," according to a press release. The advisory board includes Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University; Ralph Reed, leader of the Faith and Freedom Coalition; former Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.); Focus on the Family founder James Dobson; and Richard Land, president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary.