Trump brushes off recruiting video

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Donald Trump won’t be dissuaded from saying what he thinks simply because Islamic extremists use his words to recruit Muslims to their cause.

The Republican presidential contender brushed off the appearance of an African militant group’s video to recruit Americans that shows him calling for Muslims to be banned from coming to the U.S. On Sunday news shows, Trump said it’s no surprise America’s enemies would exploit comments of a presidential front-runner such as himself.

“The world is talking about what I’ve said,” Trump told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And now, big parts of the world are saying, Trump is really right, at least identifying what’s going on. And we have to solve it. But you’re not going to solve the problem unless you identify it.”

The 51- minute video is by al-Shabab, al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate, and showed up Friday on Twitter.

Hillary Clinton claimed in the last Democratic presidential debate that another extremist group, the Islamic State, has been using video of Trump in its propaganda. But she had no evidence that that group had done so. Trump told “Fox & Friends” the emergence since then of the al-Shabab video doesn’t change the fact she was wrong.

Trump said Democrats don’t want to talk about Islamic radicalism, but he won’t shy away from it for the sake of depriving extremists of fodder for their recruitment.