The White House(WASHINGTON) — President Trump on Monday resumed his attacks on London Mayor Sadiq Khan in the wake of this weekend’s terrorist attack at the London Bridge and Borough Market that left seven people dead and dozens more injured.
“Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement,” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday morning.
Trump had first criticized Khan on Sunday, tweeting, “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is “no reason to be alarmed!”
A spokesperson for Khan on Sunday called Trump’s remark “ill-informed” and said it took the mayor’s words out of context.
“Just like terrorists are constantly evolving and finding new ways to disrupt us, harm us, attack us, the police and experts and all of us are finding new ways to keep us safe,” Khan said in a Sunday statement. “Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. No reason to be alarmed.”
Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, told NBC Monday that Trump’s tweet Sunday was not a political attack. Conway would not say whether the president should apologize to Khan and, instead, argued that there’s an “obsession with covering everything Trump says on Twitter and very little of what he does as president.”
Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president, also stressed on Monday that Trump’s tweets are not administration policy.
“It’s not policy, it’s not an executive order. It’s social media,” Gorka told CNN.
After Trump’s tweet Sunday, the acting U.S. ambassador to the U.K., Lewis Lukens, issued a statement commending Mayor Khan for his response to the attacks.
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