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SINN FÉIN LEADER Gerry Adams has said he disagrees “profoundly” with some of the opinions of US Congressman Peter King, a long-time Sinn Féin supporter who has been identified as an architect of the travel ban in the United States.
Sinn Féin was criticised this week for its ties to the Republican congressman, who is believed to have been part of the team which came up with the plans for Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and people from certain countries from entering the US.
Peter King has been a vocal supporter of Sinn Féin in the past and in an interview in the 1990s with The Washington Post he said: ”Listen, I think I’m one of the people who brought about peace in Ireland.”
Asked about the connections between Sinn Féin and Donald Trump’s administration, Gerry Adams told TheJournal.ie that there are none.
“The only example our detractors can come up with is Peter King. Peter King supported the hunger strikers when the politicians here didn’t. Peter King supports Irish unity,” said Adams.
“I disagree with Peter King profoundly on many, many other issues. I remember an event I was at in New York and a woman said to him in my presence, ‘Peter, how come you are wrong on every issue, but Ireland’”.
Following on from Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s remarks on Trump this week, the Sinn Féin leader said he does not agree with President Trump’s recent actions on immigration and refugees.
I profoundly object to what the president has been saying and what he has been doing, but I also profoundly objected to what President Bush did and to what President Obama did.
Adams has met and shook hands with Donald Trump in the past, when the pair greeted each other at this 1995 fundraising dinner in New York. It was a big event for Adams, who had been barred from entering the US until January 1994 when then-president Bill Clinton approved a 48-hour visa.
Adams said Irish-American links need to be nurtured at this time so as to support the 50,000 undocumented Irish living in the US.
“Our input into the USA is across the bridge of Irish-America. It is about the cause, the peace process, it’s about the Good Friday Agreement. It is about ending the partition and bringing about Irish unity.
[It's] up to us ensure that the strength of Irish America is asserted as it was in the past – to mind the undocumented Irish, to push for the peace process to be supported… but it is the diaspora who will do that, and the good friends we have on Capitol Hill, the congressmen and senators who have stuck by Ireland through thick and thin.
Criticism
The criticism had been levelled at Adams by Fianna Fáil in the last week over his possible connections to both King and Trump.
Fianna Fáil’s Niall Collins had asked Sinn Féin to clarify whether the party has received donations from either Congressman King or President Trump in the past.
The BBC reports that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani identified Congressman King in a TV interview as one of the members of a commission which designed the immigration ban. Newsday reports that a representative for the congressman said King supported President Donald Trump’s executive order curbing the entry of refugees and legal immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, but said he played no role in helping craft the policy.
Read the full interview with the Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams this Sunday morning on TheJournal.ie.
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He deserves a Nobel peace prize.
@brian boru: but in the land of make believe that will never happen….Trump on the other hand is a prime candidate….
@brian boru: and when he was leaking Clinton’s email Trump though he was his hero.
I shocked that the Trump regime would be after him after all the help he gave them.
Ecuador needs to get nukes now. Their embassy in London needs to be careful about any new hires, particularly in the kitchen. The Murderers are on their case
The worlds best investigative journalist, one of the dwindling few, and of course the tyrannical USA wants to kill him.
@methodical2020: indeed, I’m a regular Richie Allen listener too.
@james o reilly: they are going to plug the leak
@methodical2020: I like Ritchie and I enjoy his show, he interviews people mainstream media would not entertain and is not afraid to ask the right questions however is idolisation of David Icke annoys me, while I agree with what a lot of Icke has to say I feel Ritchie can be a bit of a lap dog.
did Trump really take a WikiLeak in a Russian hotel?
@alphanautica: i thought he took a data dump
@Zx5vZulB: Allegedly this is his fave tune – https://youtu.be/Hy8kmNEo1i8
Doesn’t he know that the US government released a leaker called Chelsea Manning and now he wants Assange arrested for the same thing, left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing if you ask me.
‘Merica
didn’t Assange promise to turn himself in if that happened?
@Dave O Keeffe: He promised to go and answer questions if they wanted. I wonder why they’ve not bothered after all this time?
@Linda: strange, they want to question him, he wants to be questioned, what’s the hold up? Oh yeah, he’s pretty much in prison already and at this point America isn’t directly responsible.
@Dave O Keeffe: Hmm no that doesn’t sound quite right. Probably more likely they know he’s done nothing wrong and they’ve nothing to charge him with. But they’re going to try really, really hard to find something!
@Dave O Keeffe:
Yes, but he didn’t believe it actually would happen…
He also said he had a huge amount of material compromising to Russia and said he was going to release it, but we’re still waiting for that too…
There’d be nothing to leak if they werent doing anything wrong
He’ll obviously be going after Hillary Clinton too?
Assange is a joke at this stage. Couldn’t care less about him.
The CIA calling Wikileaks a hostile intelligence agency is hilarious.
Trump probably more worries about what else he has on him / I’d imagine some hookers in a Russian hotel is way down the list
The hypocrisy of the US is astounding. Basically wants to turn every device in the world into a listening hub for their own benefit. Oh but if someone does it to them..
I think this is what you call a tidy up of loose ends.
Assange is a moron. He’s anti American & he has not leaked anything about Russia as there’s a serious threat to his life if he did. Playing a positive role with these leaks would be desirable but being anti American makes him just part of the consensus. Neither inspire any confidence in him.
@Mjhint: American running dog?
@Mjhint: So you didn’t read to the end of the article? The bit where Assange is reported to have professed overwhelming admiration for both America and the idea of America? And if you did, what – in your opinion – makes him a liar?
Go Trump! Choo-choo!
Very ungreatfulf of Trump to do this…..If it wasn’t for Assange Trump would not be president now….
@John003: yes.. but he has no use for him now
@John003: I agree with both you & Fergal..
I don’t like snake oil salesmen like tRump who only wanted to enrich himself and his ilk further…
Just use a cruise missle – sure what does it matter if a few knobs get in the way they still get their man!
Compromising someones political ambitions one thing but compromising national security is a far more serious matter. Democrats as usual have their priorities in reverse.
Are they stupid as ALL the leaks are coming from within the US?
If they were acting proper and not as a business and as a friend to businesses then there would be no leaks, all the leaks prove is how corrupt the US government are???
have your say