Trump mum as man says Obama is Muslim

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump declined Thursday to correct a questioner at an event who incorrectly stated that President Barack Obama is Muslim.

Trump, who has a history of making controversial remarks about immigrants and other groups, was kicking off a town hall meeting in Rochester, New Hampshire — his first campaign event since Wednesday evening's second prime-time Republican primary debate.

"We have a problem in this country. It's called Muslims," said the first man Trump called on to ask a question. "We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American."

Trump, who was a driver of the birther movement, which claimed Obama wasn't born in the U.S., first responded with feigned exasperation — "We need the question," he said, to laughs — but let the man continue.

"We have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That's my question," the questioner continued. "When can we get rid of it?"

Trump did not dispute the man's assertions and said he has heard others raise the issue. "We're going to be looking at a lot of different things. And you know, a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there," he said. "We're going to be looking at that and plenty of other things."

The incident evoked a moment during the 2008 campaign when Republican nominee John McCain took the microphone away from a woman who said she didn't trust Obama because he was an "Arab."

Trump's questions about the president's country of birth helped build Trump's stature among some conservative voters and pushed Obama to release a copy of his birth certificate in 2011. But Trump has distanced himself from the issue during his current run.

At the same meeting, he said he does not want the $400,000 annual presidential salary and would turn it down if elected. "The first thing I'm going to do is tell you that if I'm elected president, I'm accepting no salary, OK?" he said. "That's no big deal for me."

Trump was listed on Thursday at No. 405 on Forbes magazine's list of the world's billionaires, with a fortune of $4.1 billion. Shortly after announcing his candidacy in June, he said his net worth was more than $10 billion.

Herbert Hoover, who made millions of dollars in mining before becoming president in 1921, and John F. Kennedy, who came from a wealthy family, donated their presidential salaries to charity.

Wire services