Trump criticizes London mayor, pushes travel ban,
Twitter barrage assails ‘politically correct’ leaders.
President WASHINGTON — Donald Trump on Sunday criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan after Khan sought to reassure residents about a stepped-up police presence on city streets following the third deadly attack there in the past three months.
Trump argued on Twitter for leaders to “stop being politically correct” and focus on “security for our people.”
The mayor’s spokesman said he was too busy to respond to Trump’s “ill-informed” tweet.
In a series of tweets late Saturday and early Sunday, Trump also pushed his stalled travel ban, took on gun control supporters and pledged that the U.S. will be there to help London and the United Kingdom.
The vehicle and knife attack late Saturday killed seven people in a busy section of London. About 50 people were wounded.
Trump challenged Khan for saying there was “no reason to be alarmed.” Khan spoke those words in a television interview Sunday in the context of reassuring Londoners about a possible increased police presence.
“No reason to be alarmed,” Khan said, describing a more visible presence as “one of things the police and all of us need to do to make sure we are as safe as we possibly can be.”
Trump wasn’t satisfied and responded Sunday with a trio of tweets:
“We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don’t get smart it will only get worse.”
“At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’”
Trump ended with: “Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That’s because they used knives and a truck!”
Shortly after Sunday’s third tweet, Trump left the White House and was driven to his private golf club in Northern Virginia. Aides provided no information on his activities during several hours at the club. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, and former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, both wearing golf attire, were seen getting out of the motorcade and leaving the White House after Trump returned.
Khan’s office dismissed the tweet, saying the mayor “is busy working with the police, emergency services and the government to coordinate the response to this horrific and cowardly terrorist attack and provide leadership and reassurance to Londoners and visitors to our city. He has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more police ... on the streets.”
Trump’s first comment after the attack came late Saturday. He promoted a proposed travel ban on visitors from six mostly Muslim countries and refugees from around the world that has been blocked by U.S. courts.
The Trump administration last week formally asked the Supreme Court to allow the ban to take effect, arguing that restricting immigration by refugees and visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen is necessary to protect U.S. national security. A date for the court to hear arguments was not immediately set.
“We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!” Trump tweeted Saturday after the attack.
U.S. lawmakers from both political parties criticized Trump for raising the travel ban and for assailing Khan.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said he was concerned about Trump’s call for a travel ban “even though the courts have continued to turn that down.”