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Donald Trump and Britain First: US president attacks Theresa May and tells her to focus on 'Radical Islamic Terror' in UK, not him - as it happened

Latest response from the US president comes after Ms May said he was 'wrong' to tweet videos posted by leader of Britain First

Chris Stevenson
New York
,Mythili Sampathkumar
Wednesday 29 November 2017 09:31 EST
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Donald Trump criticised for Britain First retweets

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Donald Trump has hit back at British Prime Minister Theresa May after she condemned the US president for sharing a series of anti-Muslim tweets from far-right extremist group Britain First.

Ms May's said Mr Trump was "wrong" to retweet the videos contained in the posts - but Mr Trump tweeted that she should focus focus "on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom".

Downing said had also said before Mr Trump's latest tweet that an invitation for him to make a state visit to the UK would not be withdrawn, despite calls to do so from MPs.

The first video retweeted by Mr Trump, originally shared by Britain First's deputy leader Jayda Fransen's account, claimed to show “Muslim migrants beating up a Dutch boy on crutches”.

A second re-post was captioned “Muslim destroys statue of Virgin Mary”, while a third read “Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death”.

White House Press Secretary defended President Trump by saying that "whether it is a real video... the threat is real". Adding that Mr Trump's goal is to "promote strong border security".

Mr Trump's early-morning retweets came days after Ms Fransen was arrested over a speech made at a rally in Belfast - the latest in a series of incidents over alleged hate speech, religious harassment and incitement by Britain First members.

Ms Fransen has been charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour at the Northern Ireland Against Terrorism Rally and is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court on 14 December.

Her account celebrated the shares, claiming that Mr Trump “himself” had retweeted the videos to almost 44 million followers around the world.

“God bless you Trump! God bless America!” read a tweet, signed off with the abbreviation OCS, meaning Onward Christian Soldiers.

Britain First's supporters were celebrating the publicity amid a furious reaction by politicians from all UK political parties.

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