'Too many mosques' remark draws fire to Giuliani campaign: Comment by top Giuliani homeland security adviser

Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has rejected calls to fire one of his top homeland security advisers, Representative Peter King, after the Long Island Republican said there are “too many mosques” in the U.S.

“I’ve known Pete for 41 years, so I’m not about to do that,” Giuliani told reporters in Virginia September 20.

King, senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, remarked in an interview with Politico.com: “We have, unfortunately, too many mosques in this country. There’s too many people sympathetic to radical Islam. There’s been a lack of full cooperation from too many people in the Muslim community.”

After King said his comments were taken out of context, the news Web site posted the interview online. By the next afternoon, the clip had received more than 20,200 views on YouTube.

Muslim and other religious leaders denounced King, who has been criticized in the past for controversial comments he has made about Muslims. Democrats said King should apologize. –Religion News Service