Donald Trump said a war fighting terrorism is "probably not going to be pretty." | Getty Trump: I may ask Congress to formally declare war to fight terror

President Donald Trump would have no problem asking Congress for a declaration of war to fight terrorism, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly in an interview that will air Monday evening.

“It wouldn’t bother me at all doing that,” Trump said, according to a transcript of the interview. “We probably should have done that in the first place.”


The real estate mogul said fighting terrorism isn’t the same as traditional war, noting that terrorists don’t wear uniforms and battling extremists isn’t the same as going against a country like Germany or Japan.

“This is a war against people who are vicious, violent people that we have no idea who they are, where they come from. We are allowing tens of thousands of them into our country now so on top of wars on foreign land wait 'til you see what happens in the future,” Trump warned. “It’s probably not going to be pretty. I hope I’m wrong about that, but it’s probably not going to be pretty. It’s not speculation. We’re allowing people into our country. We don’t know who they are, where they come from.”

Trump stressed that the U.S. has to be tough, vigilant and smart in terms of who comes into the country “or we’re going to be in big trouble.”

“I would have no problem with doing it, Bill,” he reiterated, about asking Congress for a declaration of war. “I’ll study the facts, but I think right now I would have no problem with doing it because we are at war. By the way, the world is at war.”