Michael Cohen, a top aide to Donald Trump, promoted a pair of tweets Saturday that suggested Hillary Clinton was behind a new terrorist recruiting video featuring Trump.
The video, purportedly produced by Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab, uses historic civil rights era footage of Malcolm X and audio of Trump to label the United States a racist society, citing the real-estate mogul’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S. The clip surfaced several weeks after Clinton suggested at a Democratic debate that Trump’s comments were being used in ISIS videos to recruit terrorists, though neither she nor her campaign presented any evidence at the time.
Cohen, a Trump Organization executive vice president and special counsel to Trump, retweeted user @freestateyank, who wrote, “Huma (Abedin) put in order 4 video the second Hillary Clinton lied at debate re yet another video @MichaelCohen212.” Abedin is a close Clinton confidant who is Muslim.
He also retweeted user @natashalarebel, who wrote, “Mr Cohen, I would not be surprised is Hillary is somehow behind this. Clinton’s play dirty tricks when desperate.”
Trump himself did not mention the video during a roughly hourlong rally here at Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Reached for comment, a spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign would only say that Cohen, who came under fire last summer for saying marital rape was legal and threatening to ruin a reporter’s life, “is not a representative of the campaign.”
Many backers of the GOP front-runner said they were more concerned about Trump restoring the Gulf Coast economy than whether he was being used to recruit terrorists, with a couple suggesting that the clip was fabricated.
“We should not worry about the lies that our enemy proffers, but be concerned with defeating our Islamo-fascist enemies. Islamo-fascism is an ideology just like Nazism,” said Chris Farrell, 53, an Army veteran from New Orleans.
Kent Peterman, 28, an Air Force member from Gulfport, Mississippi, said he was certain terrorist groups would find any U.S. leader to put in their recruiting videos.
“I think they could use anybody as a recruiting tool. It doesn’t matter who it is. It could be Hillary,” he said.
Trump himself made that point two weeks ago, saying that President Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were being used, not him.
A couple of attendees, meanwhile, questioned whether the video was authentic.
“I think that’s fabricated,” said Ralph Cahill, who drove two hours from Soso, Mississippi, to Trump’s rally in a lime green stretch Hummer limousine adorned with posters of Trump.
