LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said he had not intended to cause offence in Britain by sharing anti-Muslim videos originally posted by a leader of a far-right fringe group and that he would apologize if such people were horrible racists.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain show, Trump said he knew nothing about the group but that he was the “least racist person that anybody’s going to meet” and that his retweet was not an endorsement.
Trump sparked outrage in Britain when, last November, he shared the anti-Muslim videos and became embroiled in a public spat with British PM May who criticized him for the retweet.
When pressed on whether he would apologize for his retweet, he said that if the group was made up of racists then he would.
“Here’s what’s fair, if you’re telling me they’re horrible people, horrible racist people I would certainly apologize if you would like me to do that,” Trump said.
“I know nothing about them. I don’t want to be involved with [these] people, but you’re telling me about these people because I know nothing about these people.”
Trump said he did not mean to cause any difficulty for Britain, a country he said he loved very much.
“I can tell you I have a very good relationship with your Prime Minister,” Trump said. “She’s been doing a very good job. We actually have a very good relationship, although a lot of people think we don’t.”
“I support her, I support a lot of what she does and a lot of what she says and I support you militarily very much. We will come to your defense if anything should happen, which hopefully will never happen. I am a tremendous supporter of the UK.”
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Kate Holton)
