--- title: Donald Trump Dismisses Clip in al-Shabaab Recruitment Video description: Donald Trump shrugged off his appearance in a terrorist-recruitment video in an interview Sunday, saying, "What am I going to do?" canonical: https://time.com/4165638/trump-dismisses-appearance-in-terrorist-recruitment-video/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-03T17:15:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:55.291Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Dismisses Appearance in Terrorist-Recruitment Video og:description: Terrorist group used his remarks on Muslims to appeal to new members. og:url: https://time.com/4165638/trump-dismisses-appearance-in-terrorist-recruitment-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10de2b4cb1596fb7/698877533c1639723245b63f/donald-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Rally In Biloxi, Mississippi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Dismisses Appearance in Terrorist-Recruitment Video twitter:description: Terrorist group used his remarks on Muslims to appeal to new members. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10de2b4cb1596fb7/698877533c1639723245b63f/donald-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Dismisses Appearance in Terrorist-Recruitment Video > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Donald Trump’s Anti-Islam Rhetoric Gets Featured In New Al Qaeda Video [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump’s Anti-Islam Rhetoric Gets Featured In New Al Qaeda Video](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G4UuhIxB.m3u8) (0:53)  _Published 2016-01-02. Al-Shabab, Al-Qaeda’s Somali affiliate, has released a new video featuring Donald Trump’s call to ban all Muslims from the United States._  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 3, 2016 5:15 PM UTC  Donald Trump speaks at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on Jan. 2, 2016 in Biloxi, Mississippi. Donald Trump speaks at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on Jan. 2, 2016 in Biloxi, Mississippi. Spencer Platt—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 3, 2016 5:15 PM UTC Donald Trump shrugged off his appearance in a terrorist-recruitment video in an interview Sunday, saying, “What am I going to do?” The Republican presidential front-runner [told CBS’s John Dickerson on _Face the Nation_](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-responds-to-being-used-in-terrorist-video/) that he was not especially disturbed by the fact that a video of his remarks about Muslims appears in a recruitment video for al-Shaabab, an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group. The video clip shows [Trump calling for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S.](http://time.com/4139476/donald-trump-shutdown-muslim-immigration/) “I have to say what I have to say,” he told Dickerson of the recruitment video. “And you know what I have to say? There’s a problem. We have to find out what is the problem. And we have to solve that problem.” He also swung a few insults at President Obama. “When I watch President Obama say, ‘Global warming is our biggest problem,’ it’s just so sad to watch,” Trump said. “And he doesn’t want to use the words _radical Islam_. He doesn’t want to use anything having to do with radical and Islam. So until he’s willing to admit the problem, how can you not at least talk about the problem?” The Obama White House condemned the notion that the U.S. is at war with an entire religion. “We have said now for weeks, if not months, that any indication that supports the notion that the United States is at war with Islam will be taken advantage of by terrorist organizations who depend on propagating that narrative to recruit people,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes [told reporters ](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-03/trump-shrugs-off-appearance-in-somali-terrorist-recruitment-video)Saturday. “Clearly we need to defeat terrorists, we need to kill terrorists on the battlefield. We also need to defeat this narrative that allows them to recruit people.” Trump also threw in a few punches at 2016 Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton “I think women don’t like Hillary Clinton,” he said. “And they tell me, ‘You have to beat her. You have to win. She’s a terrible person. She’s a terrible person.’ Women are telling me that.” He also alleged that Clinton “caused the migration” and has “caused tremendous death with incompetent decisions.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4165638/trump-dismisses-appearance-in-terrorist-recruitment-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4165638/trump-dismisses-appearance-in-terrorist-recruitment-video/"},"headline":"Trump Dismisses Appearance in Terrorist-Recruitment Video","datePublished":"2016-01-03T17:15:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:55.291Z","description":"\"What am I going to do?\"","url":"https://time.com/4165638/trump-dismisses-appearance-in-terrorist-recruitment-video/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Terrorism","video","Islam","Donald Trump","2016 Campaign","terrorists","Al-Shabaab"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10de2b4cb1596fb7/698877533c1639723245b63f/donald-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10de2b4cb1596fb7/698877533c1639723245b63f/donald-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Rally In Biloxi, Mississippi","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Rally In Biloxi, Mississippi","creditText":"Spencer Platt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4165638/trump-dismisses-appearance-in-terrorist-recruitment-video/","name":"Trump Dismisses Appearance in Terrorist-Recruitment Video"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump’s Anti-Islam Rhetoric Gets Featured In New Al Qaeda Video","description":"Al-Shabab, Al-Qaeda’s Somali affiliate, has released a new video featuring Donald Trump’s call to ban all Muslims from the United States.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/G4UuhIxB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-01-02T17:00:21.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G4UuhIxB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4165638/trump-dismisses-appearance-in-terrorist-recruitment-video/","duration":"PT53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4165638/trump-dismisses-appearance-in-terrorist-recruitment-video/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```