President Donald Trump’s campaign appears to have deleted a 2015 press release calling for a halt to Muslim immigration to the United States (US) after a reporter’s question on Monday, said the Independent.

During a White House press briefing, ABC’s Cecilia Vega asked Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, asked why the Trump campaign website still calls for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the US” when the White House has denied that Trump’s executive order to block travel from six Muslim-majority countries is a “Muslim ban”.

“I’m not aware of what’s on the campaign website. You’d have to ask them,” Spicer replied.

However, minutes later, the very statement – which says “Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” – disappeared.

Trump frequently pledged to introduce a ban on Muslim immigration during his campaign and even said that he would consider shutting down mosques and establishing a Muslim registry.

On Monday, Spicer said Trump has always been “very clear” that the intent of the order was not to ban Muslims but to “make sure that the people who are coming in here are coming in here with the right motives”.

Several judges took it differently. A Maryland federal judge blocked the order from taking effect in March, pointing to Trump’s campaign-trail statements a sign of religious animus.

The attorney general of Hawaii said the order was like a “neon sign flashing ‘Muslim Ban, Muslim Ban’”.

“We cannot fault the president for being politically incorrect, but we do fault him for being constitutionally incorrect,” the attorney general had said.