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Trump: U.S. will no longer deal with British ambassador

By Darryl Coote
President Donald Trump criticized British Prime Minister Theresa May for how she handled her country's exit proposal from the European Union in a tweet thread on Monday. File Photo by Shealah Craighead/White House
President Donald Trump criticized British Prime Minister Theresa May for how she handled her country's exit proposal from the European Union in a tweet thread on Monday. File Photo by Shealah Craighead/White House | License Photo

July 9 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump said he will no longer deal with Britain's ambassador to the United States following a leak of documents that showed the diplomat insulting the Trump administration.

In a two-tweet thread, the president said the White House would no longer work with Britain's Ambassador to the United States Kim Darroch following leaked secret cables in which he called Trump "inept" and his administration "uniquely dysfunctional" due to "vicious fighting and chaos."

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"I don't know the ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the United States," Trump said. "We will no longer deal with him."

Trump extended his attack to outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, criticizing her handling of Britain's proposal to exit the European Union.

"What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way," he said, adding, "The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new prime minister."

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On Sunday, he said the United States is "not big fans of [Darroch] and he has not served the U.K. well."

Shortly after the tweets were published, Darroch was disinvited from a dinner hosted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin with Trump and Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, Bloomberg reported.

The British government has dismissed calls for Darroch's dismissal and on Monday said he has May's "full support."

"We have made clear to the United States how unfortunate this leak is," a Downing Street representative said in a statement. "The selective extracts leaked do not reflect the closeness of, and the esteem in which we hold, the relationship. At the same time, we have also underlined the importance of ambassadors being able to provide honest, unvarnished assessments of the politics in their country."

Britain has said it is investigating the source of the leaked cables.

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