US President Donald Trump has apologised for retweeting a message from Britain First and said he did it because he is a ‘big believer in fighting radical Islamic terror’.
The 71-year-old was speaking to Piers Morgan in Davos, Switzerland, and eventually apologised for causing offence.
It comes after he landed himself in hot water after he retweeted three videos which purportedly showed ‘Muslims’ doing bad deeds.
They were initially posted by far-right British nationalist Jayda Fransen, who has been convicted of hate crimes.
Piers Morgan landed the first international interview with Donald Trump since he took office (pictured together in New York in 2010)
He was asked about the controversial message during the interview, which was aired on Good Morning Britain, and said: ‘It was done because I am a big believer of fighting radical Islamic terrorism.
‘I did it as a retweet. It was a big story where you are but not where I am.
‘If you are telling me they’re horrible people, horrible, racist people, I would certainly apologise if you’d like me to do that.’
Morgan said that Trump ‘publicly apologised’ for retweeting the messages and added that the President said he ‘did not know who they were’.
He wrote online: ‘President Trump has publicly apologised for retweeting far-right group Britain First.
‘Says he didn’t know who they were. “I don’t want to be involved with these people. If you’re telling me they’re horrible racist people. I certainly apologise”.’
The retweets caused outrage in the UK and at the time some MPs wanted to see his invitation to visit the country rescinded.
His chat with Morgan was the first international TV interview with Donald Trump since he took office.
Morgan and Trump became friends while the former News of the World editor, who was working at CNN at the time, after he won the US’ Celebrity Apprentice.
The outspoken columnist for MailOnline has been a big supporter of Trump ever since.
He said last year: ‘I genuinely like him. I have known him through ten years, and saw from The Apprentice he can be charming, funny, smart and his judgment is spot on.
‘He loved drama and arguments and making the right decision and being popular.’
The full interview will air on ITV on Sunday evening.
Morgan, a MailOnline columnist and editor-at-large for Dailymail.com, is old friends with the American president (pictured with Trump and his family, Donald Trump, Jr., left, and Ivanka Trump, right, in 2008 at the Apprentice finale)
The outspoken columnist for MailOnline has been a big supporter of Trump ever since (pictured together in 2010)
That doesn’t mean that Morgan has always supported Trump’s political decisions however. Piers condemned his friend in November, when he urged him to ‘stop this madness’ after Trump retweeted Britain First