President Trump said he was ready to apologize for retweeting anti-Muslim videos from a far right British group and reiterated that he was not a racist, in an interview with Good Morning Britain on Friday.
Piers Morgan, the presenter, pushed him about the November retweet of three videos by Britain First that caused outrage in Britain and a rare rebuke by Prime Minister Theresa May.
Trump said he was unaware of the group’s politics and that the tweets showed his concern over the threat of radical Islam.
“If you are telling me they’re horrible people, horrible, racist people, I would certainly apologize if you’d like me to do that,” he said, according to a report on the interview by the British ITV broadcaster.
Morgan described the group, which presents itself as a political party but is widely seen as an extremist group targeting Muslims, as “racist.” Trump denied any knowledge of the group when he shared three videos from Jayda Francen, its deputy leader.
“Of course I didn’t know that. I know nothing about them and I know nothing about them today other than I read a little bit,” Trump said. “I don’t know who they are. I know nothing about them so I wouldn’t be doing that.”
He added that “I am often the least racist person that anybody is going to meet.”
After Trump retweeted the videos, Frayden expressed joy over the move, tweeting “God Bless You Trump!” and noting he had 44 million followers. She had been convicted of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2016 after abusing a woman wearing a hijab and was arrested a year later for a speech made in Belfast that used “threatening, abusive, insulting words.”
[Trump retweets inflammatory and unverified anti-Muslim videos]
The videos showed alleged violent acts carried out by Muslims, including one of a boy on crutches being beat up by a Muslim migrant that was proved to be misleading.
A statement from the British prime minister’s office later called it “wrong” to share such materials that promote “hateful narratives.”
Morgan, the interviewer, himself weighed in on the controversy at the time, tweeting: “Good morning, Mr President @realDonaldTrump — what the hell are you doing retweeting a bunch of unverified videos by Britain First, a bunch of disgustingly racist far-right extremists? Please STOP this madness undo your retweets.”
The interview came while Trump was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and he took the opportunity praise his relations with Britain and May.
“I can tell you I have a very good relationship with your prime minister,” Trump said, according to Reuters. “She’s been doing a very good job. We actually have a very good relationship, although a lot of people think we don’t.”
He added that the United States would come to the defense of Britain if needed.
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