WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump waded Monday into the controversy over his response to the massacre of 50 people in two New Zealand mosques, complaining that he was being blamed for the tragedy.
"The Fake News Media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand," Trump told his more than 59 million followers on Twitter. "They will have to work very hard to prove that one," he tweeted. "So Ridiculous!"
Trump appeared to be referring to criticism of his response to the attack, which was allegedly carried out by a 28-year-old white supremacist claiming to be resisting genocide against white people.
In a lengthy written rant, the alleged killer referred to Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity." Trump did on several occasions tweet and speak to condemn the "horrible" attack and offer any US assistance to New Zealand´s authorities. However, he courted controversy Friday when he played down the wider implications of the gunman´s ideology, saying that violent white nationalism is not a growing problem. "It´s a small group of people," he said.
Trump´s homeland security chief, Kirstjen Nielsen, gave a distinctly different emphasis Monday in a speech where she said that "domestic terrorists," like the New Zealand killer, increasingly resemble the better known threat from Islamist groups. "The primary terrorist threat to the United States continues to be from Islamist militants and those they inspire, but we should not and cannot and must not ignore the real and serious danger posed by domestic terrorists," she said.