Trump lashes out at mayor Khan in tweet rant
DONALD Trump yesterday launched a fresh attack on London mayor Sadiq Khan, hours after Theresa May suggested the US President was wrong to criticise him.
Mr Trump, during a series of tweets following the London Bridge terror assault, misrepresented Mr Khan’s statement that there was “no reason to be alarmed” when seeking to reassure Londoners.
This prompted Mr Khan’s spokesman to state the mayor has “more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s illinformed” tweet, before Mr Khan later suggested he does not regard Mr Trump’s planned state visit as welcome.
Mr Trump continued to criticise Mr Khan, tweeting: “Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement. MSM (mainstream media) is working hard to sell it!”
The president’s initial criticism of Mr Khan was based on a clear misinterpretation of some of the mayor’s comments in the wake of the atrocity.
On the BBC, Mr Khan made clear that he was advising people not to be concerned by the presence of additional armed police officers on the streets of the capital in the days to come, and not playing down anxieties about the attack itself.
Mrs May initially sidestepped questions about Mr Trump, choosing to praise Mr Khan’s response. Asked if Mr Trump was wrong in his assessment of the London mayor, the Prime Minister told reporters: “I think Sadiq Khan is doing a good job and it’s wrong to say anything else.”
Mrs May, taking questions after a central London election campaign speech, was earlier asked if she wanted a period of silence from Mr Trump.
She replied: “I’m very clear that Sadiq is doing a good job as mayor of London. We’re working with him, working together and that’s important – central government and the London mayoralty and his officials working together to ensure we are responding to the attack and looking, as I said earlier, at the work that the police is doing to give the public extra protection and extra reassurance.”
On what Mr Trump would have to say for her to criticise him, the PM said: “I’ve been happy to say when I think President Trump is wrong – to have taken America out of the climate change agreement, the Paris agreement. The UK stays in it and we believe it’s an important international agreement. I’m not afraid to say when I think President Trump is getting things wrong.”