Trump’s Ramadan retweet questioned
Kimberly Halkett asks Donald Trump: ‘Do you know you’re suggesting that imams wouldn’t follow social distancing?’
US President Donald Trump has suggested there “could be a difference” in how social distancing rules are enforced for Ramadan versus Easter during one of his daily press briefings.
Al Jazeera’s White House correspondent Kimberly Halkett asked the president about a retweet from the conservative author and political commentator Paul Sperry.
“Let’s see if authorities enforce the social-distancing orders for mosques during Ramadan like they did churches during Easter,” the tweet read.
Critics accused the president of promoting anti-Muslim rhetoric by retweeting the statement.
“Do you know, Mr President, that in fact, you’re suggesting that imams wouldn’t follow social distancing?” Halkett asked Trump.
“I am somebody that believes in faith,” Trump replied. “And it matters not what your faith is, but our politicians seem to treat different faiths very differently, and they seem to think, and I don’t know what happened with our country, but the Christian faith is treated much differently than it was, and I think it’s treated very unfairly.”
This clip was produced by Al Jazeera NewsFeed’s Katya Bohdan.