Donald Trump cancels his trip to London, blames Obama
President Donald Trump confirmed late Thursday that he canceled a trip to London next month to help open the new U.S. Embassy there, saying he did not support the project and that former President Barack Obama crafted a “bad deal” to see it built, The Huffington Post reported.
“Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for ‘peanuts,’ only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars,” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s comments come amid reports in British media that the White House was worried about mass protests during the president’s visit. Multiple outlets say Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may travel to the U.K. instead.
British Prime Minister Theresa May invited Trump to visit the country last year during her sojourn to the White House after the U.S. election. But the specter of such invitation has been increasingly contentious.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called on May to cancel the invitation after Trump retweeted anti-Muslim videos from a far-right Twitter account in November, accusing the U.S. president of promoting a “vile, extremist group,” The Associated Press reported at the time.