DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — US President Donald Trump said he would apologize for retweeting a series of posts by a UK far-right group, saying he didn’t know who they were at the time.
In November the US President retweeted three inflammatory videos posted by the deputy leader of ultra-nationalist political group Britain First, purportedly showing Muslims assaulting people and, in one video, smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Speaking to British broadcaster ITV in an interview broadcast Friday morning, Trump said he “knew nothing” about the group and didn’t want to be involved with them.
“It was done because I am a big believer in fighting radical Islam terror, this was a depiction of radical Islamic terror,” he added. “If you’re telling me they’re horrible people, horrible racist people I would certainly apologize if you would like me to do that.”
“I am the least racist person that anybody is going to meet. Certainly I wasn’t endorsing anybody,” Trump said.
The tweets caused an uproar in late 2017, and delight for Britain First and other far-right groups. They also sparked a rare rebuke from the British government, with a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May saying Trump was “wrong” to share the videos.
“British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far-right, which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents — decency, tolerance and respect,” the spokesman said.
A month after Trump’s retweet, the Britain First Twitter account was suspended in a purge of far-right accounts which breached the social media platform’s guidelines against posting “hateful and abusive” content.
In an interview this week, Trump said he had a “very good relationship” with May, saying “the real me is somebody that loves Britain.”
A proposed Trump visit to the UK in 2018 was apparently canceled earlier this month, though the White House denied it was due to the threat of protests. Asked whether he cared if British people disagreed with his views, Trump said “I don’t care. I don’t care. It’s just one of those things. I don’t say anything you know why? Cause I don’t care.”
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