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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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May 22, 2016
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Emerson
on Fox: Do Trump's Comments Help Recruit Terrorists?
by Steven Emerson
Interview on Fox News
May 22, 2016
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[START TRANSCRIPT]
[Video played of Hillary Clinton in CNN interview]:
Hillary Clinton: When you say we're going to bar all Muslims, you are
sending a message to the Muslim world. And you're also sending a message to
the terrorists, because we now do have evidence, we have seen how Donald
Trump is being used to essentially be a recruiter for more people to join
the cause of terrorism.
Morris: Hillary Clinton says there is evidence Donald Trump helps
recruit terrorists, but is there really? Let's ask terrorism expert Steve
Emerson. Steve nice to see you this morning.
Emerson: Good morning.
Morris: You know former Secretary of State you choose your words
carefully. She says we have evidence that this is the case. What do you
say?
Emerson: Well let's look at the evidence. It's hard to find actual
statistics, but we looked at the frequency of arrests post-Trump's comments
and pre-Trump comments--that would be a variable whether they're recruiting
more, [as well as] the level of attacks post-Trump versus pre-Trump's
comments. OK? Let's look at arrests in the United States pre-Trump's
comments versus post-Trump's comments. Last year in the United States there
were 71 ISIS arrests. So far this year there have been about 13. That's at
a rate about only 20 percent of the rate of last year. Of those 13 this
year, only eight were hatched, that is the plot started, after Trump's
comments. In those plots none mentioned in the wiretaps or in the
admissions submitted to court, none mentioned Donald Trump at all.
Morris: None.
Emerson: None at all.
Morris: So where is she getting this information from?
Emerson: Well I think there was one recording made by one wannabe ISIS
member who exploited her comments –
Morris: Right.
Emerson: – and said, 'I'm motivated by Donald Trump,' but no attack, no
post-attack recording and claim of credit has ever cited Donald Trump
nationally or internationally. And the stats prove that in terms of
frequency of attacks and level of recruitment. They've actually gone down
following Trump. And you know what's interesting is that the assumption
underlying her comments is [that] somehow Muslims around the world are just
going to be motivated to carry out fire-breathing attacks just on the basis
of offensive rhetoric. Well let's take Americans – are we going to—we
Americans--going to suddenly turn into terrorists because of the vast
amount of anti-American rhetoric in the Muslim world?
Morris: Right.
Emerson: You know it's very patronizing.
Morris: Donald Trump was on Fox & Friends on Friday. Here's what he
had to say about this evidence. Watch.
[Video played of Donald Trump on phone in Fox and Friends interview]:
Donald Trump: We're not going to find the people by just continuing to
be so nice and so soft. And I have many Muslim friends and they agree. They
have a tremendous problem with the radical Islamic terrorism, tremendous
problem. And what she said is so dumb.
Morris: What do you say to that?
Emerson: Look, Mrs. Clinton doesn't mention the term 'Islamic
terrorism.' And that's the same problem of and modus operandi of this
Administration – they won't mention the term. If you don't mention the
term, you don't recognize [the problem] and if you don't want to use the
term [Islamic terrorism], you're playing into the hands of Islamic
terrorists. Number two, the bottom line actually that motivates Islamic
terrorists is the belief that the U.S. is engaged in a war against Islam.
And that's a line that's propagated by Islamist groups, quote, 'civil
rights' groups, like CAIR Council on American Islamic Relations] and
others, that the White House has invited repeatedly into the corridors of
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the State Department under Hillary Clinton. So
they've legitimized that very message [of the conspiratorial notion that
there is a war against Islam].
Morris: She's being slammed for these comments that there's, quote,
'evidence,' and Donald Trump earlier this week was slammed for suggesting
right away that it was terrorism responsible for the EgyptAir crash. What
evidence did he have? Did he jump the gun on that? Should he have held off?
Emerson: [Laughs.] The media has been going bonkers on the suspicion
[that its terrorism] -- and they've quoted U.S. officials, they quoted FBI
officials, they quoted transportation officials, they quoted French
officials, Egyptian officials have gone on record as saying they believe
it's terrorism.
Morris: Right.
Emerson: So look, there's no evidentiary 100 percent guarantee proof
that it was terrorism, but it's leading people to believe... suspicions are
leading in that direction. Let's go back to Hillary Clinton's comments
[about Trump's comments being a recruiting tool for ISIS]. Look, ISIS could
give a hoot about what Americans or others say about them. They don't pay
attention to that. They carry out... they march to their own drummer.
Morris: Right. Steve Emerson, terrorism expert, we appreciate you
joining us this morning.
Emerson: You bet.
Morris: Thanks, Steve.
[END TRANSCRIPT]
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