Trump's tweet on Sunday mischaracterized London Mayor Sadiq Khan's comment following the attack on the London Bridge and Borough Market. | Getty Trump intensifies criticism of London mayor on Twitter

President Donald Trump on Monday escalated his rhetoric toward London Mayor Sadiq Khan, days after a terror attack struck London.

“Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement. MSM is working hard to sell it!” Trump tweeted Monday morning.


Saturday’s attack on the London Bridge and Borough Market claimed seven lives and left dozens more hospitalized. Police shot dead three attackers within eight minutes of the first emergency call.

Khan condemned the attack on Sunday, telling BBC that he’s “appalled and furious” at what the “cowardly terrorists” did. He said there’s no justification for their actions but insisted terrorism will never win. He added that there would be an increased police presence but urged Londoners not to be alarmed by it, prompting a response from the U.S. president.

“At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’” Trump tweeted Sunday morning, mischaracterizing the mayor’s comment.

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Trump’s social media director, Dan Scavino, reupped a tweet from May 2016 — when Khan called Trump’s view of Islam “ignorant” and warned that “[i]t risks alienating mainstream Muslims” — in which Scavino said Trump isn’t being politically correct but making America safe and great again.

“@MayorofLondon- refer to below tweet 13 months ago, after you criticized … now President @realDonaldTrump --- and WAKE UP!!!!” Scavino wrote Sunday.

Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor, did not respond to the White House’s attack.

“The Mayor is busy working with the police, emergency services, and the government to coordinate the response to this horrific and cowardly terrorist attack and provide leadership and reassurance to Londoners and visitors to our city,” Khan’s office said in a statement Sunday. “He has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more police — including armed officers — on the streets.”

Lewis Lukens, the acting U.S. ambassador to London, broke with Trump on Sunday, tweeting to “commend the strong leadership of the @MayorofLondon as he leads the city forward after this heinous attack.”

And when asked about Trump’s weekend tweet, British Prime Minister Theresa May said during a press conference on Monday that Khan was doing a good job following the London Bridge attack and that it was “wrong to say anything else.”

Trump’s latest tweet came after he conceded that his administration’s executive order temporarily suspending visa issuance to citizens of six majority-Muslim countries is indeed “a TRAVEL BAN!” and blasted his own Justice Department for revising his original order.

“The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.” Trump tweeted. “In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe. The courts are slow and political!”

Trump’s aides had once contended that the executive order was not a ban, despite the president’s use of the term. Critics have argued that the ban, which has been held up by the courts, is the same Muslim ban Trump proposed during the campaign.