Atef Safadi and Odd Andersen—AFP
Sadiq Khan responds by saying U.S. president will not ‘divide our communities’
London Mayor Sadiq Khan accused Donald Trump on Monday of seeking to divide communities in Britain after the U.S. president criticized his leadership following a terror attack in the city.
“Some people thrive on feud and division. We are not going to let Donald Trump divide our communities,” Khan told the BBC. He also told Sky News: “I just haven’t got time to respond to tweets from Donald Trump. Honestly I’ve got better and more important things to focus on.”
Trump accused Khan—London’s first Muslim mayor—of offering a “pathetic excuse” for comments that the U.S. president earlier misconstrued about policing in response to Saturday’s attack, which left seven people dead. Khan had told Londoners there was “no reason to be alarmed” about an increased police presence in the coming days.
Trump has leapt on the London attacks as evidence of the need for hardline security measures in the United States, including a ban on travelers from some Muslim countries. His comments caused outrage among British officials.
British Prime Minister Theresa May was among those who came to Khan’s defense, though she declined to criticize Trump over the row. “I think Sadiq Khan is doing a good job and it’s wrong to say anything else—he’s doing a good job,” she told a press conference on Monday.