Trump hits back at May: ‘Focus on terror, not me’
Donald Trump has hit out at Theresa May after Downing Street criticised him for retweeting videos by the far-right group Britain First.
In a tweet, the US President told the Prime Minister: "Don't focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!"
Mr Trump ended up sending the message twice because he got Mrs May's Twitter account confused with someone else's before deleting it and re-sending the tweet to the real Theresa May.
The Republican leader made the sleight against Mrs May following her criticism of his decision to share three anti-Muslim videos posted online by the deputy leader of far-right group Britain First.
.@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017
He retweeted Jayda Fransen's posts to his 43.6 million followers, including unverified footage purporting to show Muslims committing crimes.
Mrs May is currently in Baghdad where she gave a speech hours before Mr Trump's tweet about her, thanking the Iraqi security forces for their involvement in fighting against terrorism.
Downing Street said they will not be making a statement about Mr Trump's latest tweet.
Earlier, responding to Mr Trump's video retweets, Mrs May's official spokesman said: "It is wrong for the President to have done this.
"Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddles lies and stokes tensions.
"They cause anxiety to law-abiding people.
"The British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudice of Britain First that is the antithesis of the values that this country represents – decency, tolerance and respect."
One of the videos was entitled "Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!" while another two were purporting to show attacks carried out by other Muslims.
Fransen, who faces trial next year accused of religiously aggravated harassment, appeared to celebrate the President's actions, tweeting moments later: "God bless you Trump! God bless America!"
MPs last year called for Britain First to be a proscribed terrorist organisation after the murder of MP Jo Cox, who was killed by a right-wing extremist shouting "Britain first".
Brendan Cox, her widower, said Mr Trump "should be ashamed of himself" for retweeting the group's videos.
"Trump has legitimised the far-right in his own country, now he's trying to do it in ours," Mr Cox wrote on Twitter.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson supported Mrs May's condemnation of Britain First.
He tweeted: "Britain First is a divisive, hateful group whose views are not in line with our values.
"UK has a proud history as an open, tolerant society & hate speech has no place here."
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid hit out at the President for supporting the far-right group.
He tweeted: "So POTUS has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me.
"He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing."
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