London mayor shuts down Trump Jr. tweet: I have more important things to do

By Theodore Schleifer and Alanne Orjoux, CNN

Updated 12:41 PM ET, Thu March 23, 2017

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Story highlights

London mayor says he has more important things to do than respond to tweet
Khan and Trump had sharp words for each other during the campaign

(CNN)A day after a terror attack in his city left three people dead and as many as 40 wounded, London Mayor Sadiq Khan says he has more important things to do than respond to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr.

Wednesday, President Trump's son tweeted, "You have to be kidding me?!" in response Khan's assertion in 2016 to The Independent newspaper that terror attacks are "part and parcel" of living in a major city.

"I'm not going to respond to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr.," Khan told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday. "I've been doing far more important things over the last 24 hours."

Donald Trump Jr. manages the Trump Organization and has no role in the White House, but he remains an occasional surrogate for his father. The younger Trump
also occasionally calls out the President's political opponents on
Twitter, the venue he chose Wednesday to weigh in on the incident in Britain.

"You have to be kidding me?!" Trump Jr. tweeted, as he shared a
September 2016 article from The Independent, and paraphrased its
headline as: "Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London
Mayor Sadiq Khan"

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The article featured Khan's
reaction to a bombing in the
Chelsea neighborhood of
New York. In it, Khan said that
the threat of terror attacks is "part
and parcel of living in a big city,"
and asked Londoners to be
correspondingly "vigilant."

Twitter reacts

Twitter users took to the platform to criticize Trump for his take on
the tragedy.

Labour politician Wes Streeting -- a party colleague of Khan -- called
the President's son a "disgrace" for capitalizing on the attack for
"political gain."

"You use a terrorist attack on our city to attack London's Mayor
for your own political gain," he wrote. "You're a disgrace."

A journalist for UK broadcaster Channel 4 accused Trump of
mischaracterizing Khan's words -- suggesting that he didn't
read past the article's lead paragraph.

"Is this helpful @DonaldJTrumpJr?" Ciaran Jenkins wrote.
"Did you even read the article before goading London's
Mayor during a live incident?"

Condolences

The White House issued a more conciliatory response to the
terrorist attack. The President spoke by phone with British
Prime Minister Theresa May, and White House press secretary
Sean Spicer said Wednesday it would be "irresponsible" to
speculate only hours after the attack on what precisely
happened or who was responsible.

Khan and Trump Sr. had sharp words for one another during
the campaign: Khan, who is Muslim, criticized Trump's
immigration ban, and Trump at one point challenged the
London mayor to an I.Q. test.

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London mayor shuts down Trump Jr. tweet: I have more important things to do

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