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| Donald Trump retweets Britain First deputy leader's Islamophobic posts | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Donald Trump has shared a series of anti-Muslim tweets from far-right extremist group Britain First. | |
| The first video, originally shared by deputy leader Jayda Fransen's account, claimed to show "Muslim migrants beating up a Dutch boy on crutches". | |
| A second re-post was captioned "Muslim destroys statue of Virgin Mary", while a third read "Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death". | A second re-post was captioned "Muslim destroys statue of Virgin Mary", while a third read "Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death". |
| The content of the videos or their origin could not be independently verified. | |
| Shortly afterwards, the President called on Americans to "boycott Fake News CNN" and hailed "another great day for the stock market". | |
| Mr Trump has been taking frequent aim at critical media outlets in recent days, as well as the Hillary Clinton email scandal and attacking Democrats who oppose his policies. | |
| His early-morning Twitter frenzy came days after Ms Fransen was arrested over a speech made at a rally in Belfast - the latest in a series of incidents over alleged hate speech, religious harrassment and incitement by Britain First members. | |
| Ms Fransen's account celebrated the shares, claiming that Mr Trump "himself" had retweeted the videos to almost 44 million followers around the world. | |
| "God bless you Trump! God bless America!" read a tweet, signed off with the abbreviation OCS, meaning Onward Christian Soldiers. | |
| The account, which is partly automated, frequently shares unverified videos claiming to show migrants and Muslims physically or verbally attacking people in Europe. | |
| She is the deputy leader of Britain First, which styles itself a political party but has been condemned by campaigners as a far-right extremist group. | |
| It 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. | |
| The past year has seen the group's leaders travel to meet far-right groups in Poland and other countries, amid warnings that extremists are increasing international coordination to recruit vulnerable people online. | |
| Nick Ryan, of Hope Not Hate, told The Independent it was “pretty incredulous that the leader of the free world would stoop to sharing content from one of the most notorious far-right groups in the UK, which has had links to the past to Loyalists, the British National Party”. | |
| Unite Against Fascism's joint secretary, Weyman Bennett, said Mr Trump must be condemned for the “deplorable” shares. | |
| “It beggars belief that the most powerful person in the world is re tweeting Ms Fransen's vile views,” he added. | |
| “Britain First rubbed shoulders with fascists in the large, far right demonstration in Warsaw, just weeks ago. They are a poisonous organisation.” |