Presidential candidate Donald Trump is featured in a new recruitment video from the terrorist group Al-Shabab, according to numerous experts. Evan Kohlmann, analyst with NBC News and Chief R&D Officer for the private intelligence firm FlashPoint was one of the first to identify the new video:
A new video from al-Shabab in Somalia shows Donald Trump calling for a ban on Muslims and warns “basic human rights do not apply” in the US.
— Evan Kohlmann (@IntelTweet) January 1, 2016
Al-Shabab is an “an al-Qaeda-linked militant group based in Somalia.” It is best known for its deadly attack on a mall in Kenya in September 2003. Kohlmann, however, says Trump appearance in the video signifies his larger utility for the broader jihadist movement.
The new Shabab video featuring @realDonaldTrump appears clear evidence jihadists hope to use him to specifically solicit American recruits.
— Evan Kohlmann (@IntelTweet) January 1, 2016
Trump appears about 10 minutes into the video.
3) New #Shabaab vid shows #Trump proposing Muslim travel ban & Awlaki predicting bigotry & “concentration camps” pic.twitter.com/2KMpzYf3ui
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) January 1, 2016
Trump is proceeded by this warning from al-Qaeda militant Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a U.S. drone in 2011:
Muslims of the West: Take heed and learn from the lessons of history. There are ominous clouds gathering in your horizon. Yesterday America was a slang of slavery, segregation, lyching and Ku Klux Klan. Tomorrow it will be a land of religious discrimination and concentration camps.
Trump is then seen at a podium announcing his plan for a total ban on Muslims.
Whether or not Trump appeared in terrorist recruitment videos has been an issue in the presidential campaign. At the last Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton claimed Trump appeared in recruitment videos for ISIS. Although experts said at the time that Trump’s rhetoric had been useful to ISIS’ social media efforts, there was no specific evidence he been used in a video.
Clinton’s comments were seized on by Trump. In an interview with Chuck Todd, Trump said that Clinton “lies like crazy about everything.”
While there is no evidence that the details of Clinton’s claim were correct, the video released today underscores that her underlying point was sound: Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric has and will continue to be used by jihadists as a recruitment tool.
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