Rudy Giuliani: Trump asked me how to legally implement a Muslim ban

Rudy Giuliani, a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump, confirmed on Fox News late Saturday that Trump had previously asked him how to legally implement a Muslim immigration ban in the United States.

Speaking with Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro, Giuliani explained that Trump had asked him to convene a panel of lawmakers and lawyers with the intent of finding a solution that would legally allow them to implement a temporary Muslim ban. But he later disputed that Trump's executive order signed Friday amounts to a ban on Muslims.

"I’ll tell you the whole history of it: We he first announced it, he said ‘Muslim ban.' He called me up, he said, 'put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally,'" Giuliani said.

Giuliani then explained he did exactly that: he put together a commission with "expert" lawyers and lawmakers to try and find a way to legally implement a ban.

"And what we did was we focused on, instead of religion, danger — the areas of the world that create danger for us, which is a factual basis, not a religious basis," he said. "Perfectly legal, perfectly sensible."

Giuliani went on to reiterate that the ban is not based on religion, but rather "substantial evidence."

He also explained why Saudi Arabia wasn't on Trump's list of Muslim-majority countries whose people are temporarily barred from entering the U.S.

Because "it is not the old Saudi Arabia," Giuliani said, explaining that the new Saudi prince understands the threat that is radical Islamic terror.

However, Giuliani said he had no idea why Pakistan wasn't on that list, considering that the 2015 San Bernardino shooters had ties to the country.

"That troubles me a little bit," Giuliani said of Pakistan's exclusion.

Trump issued an executive order on Friday temporarily halting the U.S. refugee resettlement program for at least 120 days until the administration can develop a process to better vet refugees. The executive order also temporarily bars people from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Syria — from entering the U.S. for at least 90 days.

Notable exceptions to the list included both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan for unknown reasons.

Watch Giuliani's interview below: