President Trump on Wednesday retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by the deputy leader of the far-right British political party Britain First — drawing criticism from Prime Minister Theresa May and dragging Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric back into the spotlight in the US.

At least one of the videos, which originated in the Netherlands, was debunked. It drew a rebuke from the embassy.

The videos, which Trump retweeted from Jayda Fransen, are captioned "Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!", "Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!", and "Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!"

"It is wrong for the president to have done this," a spokesperson for May said, amid universal condemnation from politicians and groups in both the UK and US.



"Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions," the spokesperson said. "They cause anxiety to law-abiding people. British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right, which is the antithesis of the values which this country represents: decency, tolerance and respect."



We have the greatest respect — the president has the greatest respect for the British people and for Prime Minister May," White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah responded later in the day.



The White House went on to defend the tweets by saying it doesn't matter if the videos are accurate. Officials then went on to say Muslims posed a "threat," which is why Trump imposed his travel bans.



"Whether it's a real video, the threat is real. His goal is to promote strong border security and strong national security," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.

As a presidential candidate, Trump often talked about and portrayed Muslims and Islam in an overwhelmingly negative light. He once said, “I think Islam hates us,” and that he would ban all Muslims entering the US. As president, he tried on three occasions to ban immigration from numerous Muslim-majority countries, and finally succeeded in having a revised version of the ban go into effect in June, only to have it blocked again by a federal judge in October.