US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has criticised Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for the second time in almost 24 hours.
After sending a series of tweets about his proposed travel ban, ‘extreme vetting’ and the Democrats, Trump turned his ire towards Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim.
“Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his “no reason to be alarmed” statement. Mainstream media is working hard to sell it!” he wrote.
Bernie Sanders, who was in Dublin last night to promote his new book, took the opportunity last night to defend Khan.
Speaking to the Dalkey Book Festival audience, Sanders said that the Mayor of London had tried to send out a message of reassurance, and that Trump “took his statements way out of context”.
Sanders told the crowd that the President had used the opportunity to “promote his divisive Muslim ban”.
What was yesterday’s tweet?
Shortly after promising to ‘be there’ for the UK in the wake of the London Bridge attack, Trump quickly targeted Khan in his following tweet:
At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’
Trump said the attack showed it was time to “stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people,” after tweeting the night before that it underscored the need for his contested “travel ban” on several Muslim-majority nations.
Khan, in an interview with BBC just hours after the attack, had said:
My message to Londoners and visitors to our great city is to be calm and vigilant today. You will see an increased police presence today, including armed officers and uniformed officers. There is no reason to be alarmed by this.
Responding to Trump’s criticism from yesterday, a spokesman issued a statement saying that the mayor – busy coordinating a response to the attack even while reassuring Londoners and visitors – had “more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks”.
Khan has yet to respond to the latest online attack by the US president.
With reporting from Daragh Brophy and AFP
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