Trump’s tweets strain foreign ties
president takes London mayor's comments out of context and reiterates travel ban.
WASHINGTON — On one level, President Donald Trump reacted to Saturday night’s terrorist attack in London much as his predecessors might have. He expressed solidarity and telephoned Britain’s prime minister to offer condolences. “WE ARE WITH YOU,” he wrote to Britons.
But even as the investigation into the attack was getting underway, Trump wasted little time in using the episode to defend his hotly disputed travel ban on visitors from certain predominantly Muslim countries and to criticize the judges who have blocked it. And by Sunday morning, he decided to go after the mayor of London as not being tough enough on terrorism.
The latest contretemps came when Trump heaped scorn on Mayor Sadiq Khan of London. “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’ ” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump either misunderstood what Khan had said or distorted it. During an interview shown on the BBC, the mayor said he was “appalled and furious that these cowardly terrorists would target” innocent civilians and vowed that “we will never let them win, nor will we allow them to cower our city.”
He went on to say that residents should not worry as they encounter more police officers patrolling the streets.
“Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days,” Khan said. “No reason to be alarmed. One of the things the police, all of us, need to do is make sure we’re as safe as we possibly can be. I’m reassured that we are one of the safest global cities in the world, if not the safest global city in the world, but we always evolve and review ways to make sure that we remain as safe as we possibly can.”
Khan’s office later dismissed Trump’s post, saying the mayor was too busy to reply. “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 — including armed officers — on the streets,” his office said in a statement.
The exchange reflected the tensions between Trump and the United States’ close allies in Europe. The president returned a little more than a week ago after meetings in Belgium and Italy where he questioned the role of NATO. Then, once home, he followed up by criticizing Germany on trade and pulling the United States out of the Paris climate change accord.
The friction has been especially acute for more than a year between Trump and Khan, the first Muslim to serve as mayor of a major Western European capital. During last year’s presidential race, Khan criticized Trump’s proposal to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the United States and endorsed Hillary Clinton, prompting an exchange with Trump’s campaign.