Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Donald Trump is 'very upset' Amanda Knox voted for Hillary Clinton, says advisor

George Lombardi says President, who publicly supported Ms Knox, is hurt by her ingratitude

Katie Forster
Monday 17 April 2017 04:42 EDT
Comments
Amanda Knox
Amanda Knox (AP)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Donald Trump is “very upset” that Amanda Knox voted for Hillary Clinton in the US election, his advisor George Lombardi has said.

The US President publicly stated his support of Ms Knox, who spent nearly four years in an Italian jail before she was acquitted of the murder of fellow exchange student Meredith Kercher.

“Everyone should boycott Italy if Amanda Knox is not freed – she is totally innocent,” he wrote on Twitter in September 2011, after her trial had been reopened following an appeal.

He also told Komo 4 News at the time: “I think I’m good at judging people. I study people and I become rich because I understand what people are about.

“I watched the Amanda Knox case unfolding in news reports. After watching it for a little while, I said: ‘This is not a guilty person’”.

But the 29-year-old from Seattle, who returned to the US from Italy when she was definitively found innocent in 2015, said she had chosen to support Ms Clinton in the presidential elections due to her views on abortion.

In a column for the West Seattle Herald in November, Ms Knox called Mr Trump “inexperienced, uninformed and irresponsible (to say the very least)”.

“If Obama’s song was a rousing anthem, Clinton’s is a subtle symphony. And Trump, a broken trumpet,” she wrote. “[Clinton’s] impending victory represents the triumph of nuance and poise over prejudice and childishness.”

Now Mr Lombardi, an Italian real estate investor who lives in Trump Tower and set up Facebook campaign groups for the President, has told the New York Times Mr Trump is “very upset” at Ms Knox’s ingratitude.

Ms Knox was accused of the murder of Ms Kercher, from Coulsdon in Surrey, who was found dead in 2007 at the flat she shared with Ms Knox in the university town of Perugia in central Italy.

She and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty and handed a 26-year sentence, but following a lengthy and complex court process, were exonerated.

Mr Lombardi, 66, has been described as Mr Trump’s “go-between” with European populist, far-right political figures such as Marine Le Pen and members of Austria’s Freedom Party.

In January, he met Ms Le Pen for coffee in Trump Tower in Manhattan, which he told the newspaper was “kind of innocent”.

Ms Knox recently shared a tweet by Kristen Schaal, in which she wrote: “Retweet if you want [Donald Trump] to release his tax returns”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in