President Donald Trump retweeted Wednesday morning three inflammatory videos from a British far-right account rife with anti-Muslim content.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media during a meeting with congressional leadership in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on November 28, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Credit: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)
The videos, posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, a far-right and ultra-nationalist political group, depict purported Muslims assaulting people and, in one video, smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Trump, who has previously warned that immigration from Muslim-majority nations threatens European and US security, frequently retweets other messages whose political views he finds favorable, but seldom shares messages as offensive and explosive as he did on Wednesday.
The retweets were immediately met with outrage in the United Kingdom. Brendan Cox, the husband of Jo Cox, the British MP who was murdered last year by a man who reportedly shouted “Britain First” as he attacked her, tweeted, “Trump has legitimized the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself.”
Fransen reacted jubilantly online, touting that the videos had been shared with Trump’s nearly 44 million followers. “GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP!” she wrote in all caps.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Fransen was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2016 after abusing a Muslim woman wearing a hijab while she was with her four children. Fransen was fined by the court and ordered to pay costs.
In a separate development, Fransen was also charged over using “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior” during a speech she made in Belfast in Northern Ireland. She is set to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on Thursday December 14.
from KTLA http://ift.tt/2AjLQnM
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