Watch Donald Trump apologise for retweeting far-right group’s video in television interview
Trump sparked outrage in Britain in November when he retweeted, in quick succession, three videos posted by Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of Britain First
US President Donald Trump has apologised for the first time for retweeting a British far-right group’s videos apparently showing Islamist violence, in an ITV interview aired in Britain on Friday.
“If you’re telling me they’re horrible racist people, I would certainly apologise if you’d like me to do that,” he told Piers Morgan during the interview, conducted in Davos on Thursday.
In November, Trump retweeted in quick succession three videos posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First who was in 2016 convicted of religiously aggravated harassment of a Muslim woman.
Morgan accused the president of causing “huge anxiety and anger in my country, because Britain First is basically a bunch of racists, fascists”.
“Of course I didn't know that,” Trump responded in excerpts of the interview aired on Friday. “I know nothing about [Britain First], I know nothing about them today, other than I read a little bit. Certainly I wasn’t endorsing anybody. Perhaps it was a big story in the UK, but in the United States it wasn’t a big story. I am the least racist person that anybody is going to meet.”
It was done because I am a big believer in fighting radical Islamic terror
Trump was less apologetic about tweeting the content of the videos, saying he was a “big believer in fighting radical Islamic terror”.
“Radical Islamic terror, whether you like talking about it or not, you look at what’s going on in the UK, you look at what’s going on all over the world,” he said. “It was done because I am a big believer in fighting radical Islamic terror.”