US president renews Twitter attack on London mayor

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – U.S. President Donald Trump Monday renewed his Twitter attack on London’s Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan over last weekend's terror attacks.

Trump continued his criticism over Khan’s calls for "calm" following the attack that killed 7 people, suggesting the mainstream media was “working hard to sell” the mayor's appeal for calm.

“Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement. MSM is working hard to sell it,” he wrote while referring to mainstream media.

The war of words over Twitter started following the Saturday night terror attack after Trump’s tweet that promoted a travel ban on some Muslim-majority countries.

“We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety,” Trump said on Twitter.

In January, Trump signed an executive order that banned migration from seven Muslim-majority countries for at least nine months, and suspended the U.S.' refugee program for 120 days.

The U.S. Department of Justice last Thursday asked the Supreme Court to hear the case on appeal, and filed two emergency applications with the top court seeking to overturn lower court rulings that blocked the ban on the grounds of discrimination.

“We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don’t get smart it will only get worse,” he continued before directly targeting Sadiq Khan.

In his next tweet Trump said: “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’”

However, Sadiq Khan did not reply to Trump’s attack but instead a spokesman for the mayor said that Khan “has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more police – including armed officers – on the streets.”

Since Trump’s tweets on Khan, British Prime Minister Theresa May and other officials -- including the acting-U.S. ambassador to London -- have praised the London mayor.

“I commend the strong leadership of the @MayorofLondon as he leads the city forward after this heinous attack,” acting Ambassador Lewis Lukens wrote also on Twitter.

London mayor Sadiq Khan earlier slammed the terrorists, calling the attack “cowardly and evil”. Visiting the scene of the attack, Khan said he was “furious” that the killers had used religion to justify their actions.

"I'm angry, and I'm furious that these three men are seeking to justify their actions by using the faith that I belong to,” Khan said.

He said: "The ideology they follow is perverse, and is poisonous and it has no place in Islam. I condemn this terrorist act but also the poisonous ideology these men and others follow."

At least seven people died and almost 50 were injured when three attackers drove into crowds in central London before going on a stabbing spree. Police later shot the three assailants dead.