President Donald Trump has criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Twitter, saying that Khan’s statement related to Saturday night’s deadly terrorist attack near London Bridge was “pathetic.”
The morning after the attack, Khan asked the people of London “to be calm and vigilant.” He told them that there would be “an increased police presence today, including armed officers and uniformed officers. There is no reason to be alarmed by this. We are the safest global city in the world.”
“You saw last night as a consequence of our planning, our preparation, the rehearsals that take place,” continued Khan, “the swift response from the emergency services tackling the terrorists and also helping the injured.”
However, President Trump did not agree with Khan’s view of the attack, during which three terrorists drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge and launched a knife attack in Borough Market, killing at least seven and injuring dozens.
“Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Kahn who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement. [Mainstream media] is working hard to sell it!” Trump tweeted Monday morning.
President Trump made similar criticisms of Kahn on Sunday as well. “We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don’t get smart it will only get worse,” he tweeted, referencing his controversial travel ban against migrants from six majority-Muslim countries, which has been blocked in court.
Trump also tweeted, “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’”
Nonetheless, Khan, the first Muslim mayor of London and the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital, is ignoring Trump’s tweets, according to the mayor’s office.
This is uncharacteristic of the mayor, who has sharply criticized Trump in the past. During the 2016 election, Khan called Trump’s rhetoric “divisive” and “offensive,” saying in an interview with the BBC, “I hope Trump loses – badly.”
Khan also called Trump “ignorant” in a May 2016 interview with Piers Morgan on ITV. In a May 2016 interview with Time magazine, he specifically protested against Trump’s proposed travel ban.
“If Donald Trump becomes the President, I’ll be stopped from going [to America] by virtue of my faith, which means I can’t engage with American mayors and swap ideas. Conservative tacticians thought those sorts of tactics would win London and they were wrong.”
When Trump took steps to implement his travel ban this year, Khan again actively spoke out against Trump, calling the ban “shameful and cruel.”
“While every country has the right to set its own immigration policies, this new policy flies in the face of the values of freedom and tolerance that the USA was built upon,” said Khan in a January statement.
However, the mayor now “has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more police –including armed officers on the streets,” said a spokesperson for Khan.
Even more, Lewis Lukens, Trump’s acting ambassador to London, posted a tweet seemingly contradictory to Trump’s tweet on Sunday.
“I commend the strong leadership of the @MayorofLondon as he leads the city forward after this heinous attack,” tweeted Lukens, who is awaiting the president’s nomination to Congress, allowing him to become a permanent representative to the U.K.
Trump most likely will not approve Lukens, however. He has stated that he will nominate New York Jets owner Woody Johnson to be the American ambassador to the U.K.
Trump’s nominees have yet to be approved by Congress. On Monday, Trump tweeted, “Dems are taking forever to approve my people, including Ambassadors. They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals.”
It is unclear if Trump was directly referencing Lukens’ tweet.
