Trump Under Fire for Retweeting Anti-Muslim Videos from British Far-Right Group

Rasa - US President Donald Trump retweeted a series of inflammatory videos purporting to show violence being committed by Muslims.

News ID: 435057

Date: 01 December 2017 - 20:50

RNA - Trump retweeted them from Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the far-right group Britain First, a small fringe group whose profile was elevated by Trump's attention, CBC reported.

Britain First is a far-right group that opposes multiculturalism in Britain. It has run candidates in local and national elections, with little success, and has campaigned against the construction and expansion of mosques.

Trump wants immigration clampdown after NYC attack, blames Democrats

Trump did not offer any explanation for why he retweeted the videos. The retweets came amid a flurry of early morning Trump posts, providing a diversion from several other issues, including the possible government shutdown, the Republican tax plan and a missile launch by North Korea on Tuesday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesperson James Slack said Trump was wrong to share Fransen's anti-Muslim videos. He said Britain First seeks to divide communities through its use of "hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions."

He added: "It is wrong for the president to have done this."

But May's office said an invitation for Trump to pay a state visit to Britain was not being withdrawn. Opposition politicians were calling for the visit to be cancelled after the far-right retweets.

Wednesday evening, Trump addressed May on Twitter, albeit using an incorrect Twitter account, saying don't focus on him, instead focus on what he called the destructive Radical Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom.

A few minutes later, Trump tweeted again using May's correct Twitter account.

White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump's retweeting, saying he wants to "promote strong borders and strong national security." Sanders said she wasn't sure how Trump found the videos.

Asked if the president had a responsibility to verify the content, Sanders said: "Whether it's a real video, the threat is real and that is what the president is talking about."

However, in a reply to Trump's retweet, the Netherlands Embassy corrected some of the tweet saying the person identified as a "migrant" was born and raised in the Netherlands and was sentenced under Dutch law.

Sanders said she hadn't discussed with Trump how it might affect his relationship with the British prime minister.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) strongly condemned Trump's tweets. Nihad Awad, the group's executive director, said in a statement that Trump is "clearly telling members of his base that they should hate Islam and Muslims."

In an interview with CBC News Network, Awad said there is "no question" that Trump hates Muslims.

"He hates Muslims, he hates Latinos, he hates African Americans, he hates people who do not look like him or believe in his divisive politics," Awad said.

"We do not allege this. I mean, every policy, every tweet that he says is very divisive, not only against Muslims but other minorities in this country."

CAIR is calling on Republican leadership to step in to assure that Trump's policies to not overtake the party.

"And they will not allow this president or any other president to shred and throw away our constitution by bullying or picking on anyone like the American Muslim community," Awad said.

847/940