President Donald Trump apologises for anti-Muslim retweets
United States President Donald Trump has apologised for retweeting three anti-Muslim videos, which were originally posted by the deputy leader of one of the United Kingdom's most far-right groups.
Trump had retweeted the tweets of Britain First's Jayda Fransen in November.
Speaking to the U.K. broadcaster ITV on Thursday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, 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".
"I am often the least racist person that anybody is going to meet. Certainly, I wasn't endorsing anybody", he added.
The U.S. President drew widespread condemnation, including from the British Prime Minister's office for the retweets.
"Britain First seeks to divide communities in their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions", the statement from 10 Downing Street said at the time.
Britain First, which styles itself as a political party but has been condemned by campaigners as a far-right extremist group, calls on supporters to join the "British resistance" and "secure a future for British children" and has become known for paramilitary-style "invasions" targeting mosques, reported the Independent.
The first video claimed to show "Muslim migrants beating up a Dutch boy on crutches".
A second re-post was captioned, "Muslim destroys the statue of Virgin Mary", while a third read, "Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off the roof and beats him to death".
Fransen delightedly reacted online, touting that the videos had been shared with Trump's nearly 44 million followers.
According to reports, Fransen was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2016 after abusing a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. Fransen was fined by the court and ordered to pay costs.
Separately, Fransen was also charged for using "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour" during a speech she made in Belfast in Northern Ireland.
-ANI
