--- description: Donald Trump shrugged off his appearance in a terrorist-recruitment video in an interview Sunday, saying, "What am I going to do?" title: Trump Dismisses Appearance in Terrorist-Recruitment Video image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10de2b4cb1596fb7/698877533c1639723245b63f/donald-trump2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Trump Dismisses Appearance in Terrorist-Recruitment Video  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jan 3, 2016 5:15 PM CUT  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](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jan 3, 2016 5:15 PM CUT 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/ "undefined") 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/ "undefined") “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 "undefined")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":"2026-02-22T13:43:53.998Z","description":"\"What am I going to do?\"","url":"https://time.com/4165638/trump-dismisses-appearance-in-terrorist-recruitment-video/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","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"}}] ```