
Trump dodges apology on retweet of Dutch anti-Islam video
American president Donald Trump gave what seemed to be, but wasn't actually, an apology for re-tweeting three anti-Islam videos by British far-right politician Jayda Fransen of party Britain First.
One of those videos was filmed in the Netherlands and showed a Dutch boy on crutches being beaten up by someone described as a "Muslim immigrant". The Dutch Public Prosecutor revealed that the perpetrator in the video was born and raised in the Netherlands, had already been sentenced and completed the sentence successfully. This was also pointed out to Trump by the Dutch embassy in Washington.
Speaking to British broadcaster ITV, Trump said that he knows nothing about Britain First and was certainly not endorsing the far-right group with his re-tweets. When presenter Piers Morgan pressed him for an apology, Trump said: "Here's what's fair. If you're telling me those are horrible people, horrible racist people, I would certainly apologize if you'd like me to do that."
Trump stressed that he is "often least racist person that anybody is going to meet". And said that he re-tweeted the videos because he is concerned about the threat posed by radical Islamic terrorists. "They had a couple of depictions of radical Islamic terror. It was done because I am a big believer in fighting radical Islamic terror. This was a depiction of radical Islamic terror."