Trump's ambassador lobbied Britain on behalf of jailed right-wing activist Tommy Robinson
(Reuters) - Sam Brownback, the U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, complained to the British ambassador in Washington D.C. about the treatment of an English right-wing activist who is in jail for disrupting a trial, according to three sources familiar with the discussion.
Brownback raised the case of the activist known as Tommy Robinson in a June meeting with Sir Kim Darroch, Britain's Ambassador to the United States, according to a British official and two sources close to the organizers of a pro-Robinson demonstration planned for London on Saturday.
Brownback raised the jailing of Robinson during a meeting with Darroch that covered a range of "religious freedom issues", the British official confirmed earlier this week.
Brownback told Darroch that if Britain did not treat Robinson more sympathetically, the Trump administration might be compelled to criticize Britain's handling of the case, according to the two sources in contact with organizers of the planned pro-Robinson demonstration.The sources said Robinson's supporters, who have also been in touch with the Trump administration about the issue, were concerned that he could be attacked by other prisoners.
Reuters was unable to determine why the top U.S. official responsible for defending religious freedom would try to intervene with the British government on behalf of an activist who has expressed ant-Islamic views.
Brownback, who is a former governor of Kansas and former U.S. senator, was not available for comment. However, on Thursday a U.S. State Department spokesman said the "characterizations" of Brownback's meeting with Darroch by Reuters sources were "completely false" but the spokesman did not elaborate further.
Holy fucking shit. White Supremacist gonna white supremacist I guess.