Donald Trump claims immigration has left London ‘unrecognisable’ after Europe ‘opened its doors to jihad’ and vows ‘never to let that happen’ in the US in his latest swipe at UK’s capital

Donald Trump has claimed that mass immigration has made London ‘unrecognisable’ after Europe ‘opened the doors to jihad’ – and insisted he would ‘never’ allow the same to happen in the US.

The ex-US president’s comments, made to supporters at an election rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday, are the 77-year-old’s latest aim at the British capital and risk further igniting his long-running feud with London mayor Sadiq Khan will flare up again.

‘We saw what happened when Europe opened its doors to jihad. Look at Paris, look at London, they are no longer recognizable,” Trump told his supporters at a May 1 rally as he went on the campaign trail away from his legal troubles.

“I’m going to get myself in trouble with the people in Paris and the people in London, but you know what, that’s a fact. They are no longer recognizable and we cannot let that happen to our country.’

“We have an incredible culture and tradition. There is nothing wrong with their culture, their tradition. We can’t let that happen here, and I will never let it happen to the United States of America.”

Sadiq Khan later hit back at Trump’s comments.

“Today is an opportunity to show Donald Trump and my Tory opponent that London will always choose hope over fear and unity over division. This election will be close. The polling stations are open until 10pm tonight and you need photo ID to vote,” he told MailOnline.

Before a visit to London in 2018, when he was still a sitting president, Trump blasted Khan for doing a “terrible job in London.”

Khan responded, telling the Huffington Post that he would like to meet with Trump to “explain in a respectful, courteous manner where I think he is wrong on a number of issues.”

In another conversation, Trump said he thought Khan had done a “very poor job on terrorism.”

The same year, when Trump arrived in the British capital for a state visit, protesters received permission from Khan’s office to fly a hot air balloon with Trump dressed as a baby crying.

In 2016, Trump had a similar problem with then-London Mayor Boris Johnson, when he claimed during his campaign: “London and other places… have become so radicalized that the police are afraid for their own lives.”

Johnson dismissed Trump as “misinformed.”

“The only reason I wouldn’t go to certain parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump,” he joked back.

Two years later, Trump told then Prime Minister Theresa May that there were ‘no-go areas’ in London due to the presence of jihadists. May later said she disagreed with his claim.

Trump’s latest comments also come as police in the US remove pro-Palestinian encampments set up by students on college campuses across the country.

These encampments have been the sites of violence, most notably the clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian supporters at UCLA in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Trump spoke about the protests and encouraged officials to move forward with their removal.

“I say to every university president: remove the encampments immediately. Destroy the radicals and take back our campuses for all normal students who want a safe place to learn,” he said.

Trump’s comments at events in battleground states Wisconsin and Michigan were closely watched after he was fined $9,000 for making public statements about people involved in the criminal case.

In imposing the fine for posts on Trump’s Truth Social account and campaign website, Judge Juan M. Merchan said that if Trump continued to violate his orders, he would “impose a prison sentence.”

‘There is no crime. I have a corrupt judge. He is a totally contradictory judge,” Trump said as he spoke to supporters at an event in Waukesha, Wisconsin, again claiming that these and other cases against him are being funneled by the White House to undermine his campaign.

The former president is attempting to pull off a balancing act unprecedented in American history by running for a second term as the presumptive Republican nominee while simultaneously fighting felony charges in New York.

Trump often goes after Merchan, prosecutors and potential witnesses at his rallies and on social media, lines of attack that suit his supporters well but may have put him in further legal jeopardy.

Later, at a rally in Freeland, Michigan, he said he had to spend days in a “kangaroo courtroom,” claiming the district attorney was taking orders from the Biden administration without evidence.

‘I have to do two of these things a day. You know why? Because I’m in New York all the time for the Biden trial,” he said. ‘It’s a bogus trial. They’re doing it to try to take away your powers, to try to take away your candidate.”

Even before the hush money trial began on April 15, Trump has hosted only a handful of public campaign events since becoming his party’s presumptive nominee in March.

The gag order prohibits him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others related to his hush money case. Trump is still free to criticize the judge and the prosecutor.

Trump insists he is merely exercising his right to free speech, but the offensive posts have been removed from his Truth Social account and campaign website. Merchan is weighing other alleged violations of the gag order and will hear arguments Thursday.

Those present agreed that he is being unfairly prosecuted, and claimed that the trial and the silence order were intended to distract him.

“It’s a criminal investigation process,” said Ray Hanson of Hartford. Hanson said he expected Trump’s lawyers to “keep him in line” so that he doesn’t violate the gag order, no matter how much he wants to talk about the trial.

Prosecutors in Manhattan have argued that Trump and his associates participated in an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential campaign by buying and then burying negative stories. He has pleaded not guilty.

Trump’s visits to Wisconsin and Michigan mark his second trip to the swing states in just a month.

At previous meetings, the former president focused mainly on immigration, calling people living illegally in the US and suspected of crimes “animals.”