Trump says he did not want London mayor at UK state banquet

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he did not want London Mayor Sadiq Khan to attend a UK state banquet hosted in his honor and asked that he not be invited.

"I think that the mayor of London, Khan, is among the worst mayors in the world, and we have some bad ones," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. "He's done a terrible job. Crime in London is through the roof. The mayor of London, Khan, Mayor Khan, has done a terrible job, and on immigration he's a disaster. No, I asked that he not be there. He wanted to be there, as I understand."

Trump said he has a "certain pride in London and the UK," saying his mother was born in Scotland.

"When I see Mayor Khan do a bad job, the stabbings, and the dirt and the filth, it's not the same. No. I didn't want him there," he said.

The comments are just the latest barbs between Trump and Khan following years of acrimony.

Khan wrote an op-ed in the Guardian newspaper that was published just as Trump was set to begin his three-day tour of the UK in which he said the US president "and his coterie have perhaps done the most to fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world in recent years."

"Scapegoating minorities, illegally deporting US citizens, deploying the military to the streets of diverse cities. These actions aren’t just inconsistent with western values – they’re straight out of the autocrat’s playbook," he wrote.