Donald
Trump attends a dinner with CEO's during the World Economic Forum
annual meeting in Davos.
Thomson
Reuters
Donald Trump said sorry in an interview on British
TV.
He told Piers Morgan that he hadn't known who Britain
First were when he retweeted anti-Muslim videos from their
deputy leader in November.
It sparked a highly unusual public confrontation
between Washington and London.
Trump said: "If you are telling me they're horrible
people, horrible, racist people, I would certainly apologise if
you'd like me to do that."
US President Donald Trump has apologised for retweeting a string
of anti-Muslim hate videos posted by the British far-right.
Trump used an appearance on UK television channel ITV to
acknowledge that Britain First, the party
whose deputy leader he hugely amplified by retweeting three
posts, were "horrible, racist people."
He told Piers Morgan, the host of ITV's "Good Morning Britain"
and a personal friend, that he had known little about the group
and was willing to apologise for the incident, which took place
in late November.
Here's a photograph of the exchange:
Donald
Trump speaks with Piers Morgan in an interview recorded in Davos,
Switzerland.
ITV
According to a preview of the interview, seen by Business
Insider, he said: "I don't want to cause any difficulty for your
country.
"If you are telling me they're horrible people, horrible, racist
people, I would certainly apologise if you'd like me to do that."
A clip of the exchange was aired on Friday morning, and it is due
to be broadcast in full on Sunday at 10 p.m. UK time.
The retraction is a huge climb-down from Trump's earlier position
on the subject, which strained relations between London and
Washington.
Prime Minister Theresa May took the unusual step of
rebuking Trump in public for the retweets, which were also
condemned by MPs in the House of Commons.
May said Trump was "wrong" to post the tweets, but some of her
senior ministers went much further, such as cabinet minister
Sajid Javid, who has Muslim heritage:
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) November 29, 2017
So POTUS has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me. He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing
Trump initially hit back, tweeting Theresa May effectively
telling her to mind her own business.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017
.@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!
But now, almost exactly two months later, he appeared to put
UK-US relations ahead of his typical reluctance to apologise.
Here are the quotes from Trump released by ITV in full:
"I know nothing about them [Britain First] and I know
nothing about them today. Other than I read a little bit. I
guess, again I’m in the United States, so I didn’t read as much
about it, perhaps it was a big story in Britain, perhaps it was a
big story in the UK.
"But in the United States it wasn’t a big story. I did a
retweet. When you do your own tweeting, or you do your own social
media, it’s fine. When you do those retweets it can cause
problems, because you never know who’s doing it to start off
with."
[When asked whether he was endorsing racists with the
tweets]
"I don’t know who they are, I know nothing about them, so I
wouldn’t be doing that.
"I am, as I say often, the least racist person that
anybody’s going to meet. Certainly I wasn’t endorsing anybody. I
knew nothing about them.
"They had I guess a couple of depictions of radical Islamic
terror. Radical Islamic terror, whether you like talking about it
or not Piers, it’s a fact. You look at what’s going on in UK and
you look at what’s going on all over the world, you can try and
shield it…"
[Asked whether he regrets the tweets]
"Look, it was done because I am a big believer in fighting
radical Islamic terror. This was a depiction of radical Islamic
terror.
"The real me is somebody that loves Britain, loves the UK.
I love Scotland. One of the biggest problems I have in winning, I
won’t be able to get back there so often. I would love to go
there. As you know, before this happened, I would be there a lot.
Very special people and a very special place. I don’t want to
cause any difficulty for your country, that I can tell
you."
[Asked if he'll apologise]
"Here’s what’s fair, if you’re telling me they’re horrible
people, horrible racist people I would certainly apologise if you
would like me to do that. I know nothing about them.
"I don’t want to be involved with [these] people, but
you’re telling me about these people because I know nothing about
these people."
[On his relationship with Theresa May]
"I can tell you I have a very good relationship with your Prime
Minister who I just left. She’s been doing a very good job. We
actually have a very good relationship, although a lot of people
think we don’t. I support her, I support a lot of what she does
and a lot of what she says and I support you militarily very
much. We will come to your defence if anything should happen,
which hopefully will never happen. I am a tremendous supporter of
the UK."
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