Remember when Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan's bodyguards viciously attacked and beat peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C. back in May? Well, President Donald Trump, who didn't say a word about the incident at the time, remembered it too, but he recalled things a bit differently and apologized, according to Erdoğan.
Following the incident in May, D.C. Police issued 12 arrest warrants for Erdoğan's security personnel, but there was still no word from the Trump administration about what had happened.
However, in a PBS NewsHour segment, Erdoğan recounted his version of the incident, in which he said his security personnel had been protecting him and that D.C. police failed to act properly. He also said that Trump had apologized.
"Actually, President Trump called me about a week ago about this issue," Erdoğan told PBS Newshour. "He said that he was sorry, and he told me he was going to follow up about this issue when we come to the United States within the framework of an official visit."
"The protesters were insulting us, and they were screaming and shouting," he added. "The police failed to intervene properly."
.@RT_Erdogan tells @JudyWoodruff Trump called him abt incident in DC this summer to say he was sorry + wanted to "follow up on this issue." pic.twitter.com/CoVXYFamDV
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) September 19, 2017
On Wednesday, the White House finally addressed the issue and denied that Trump apologized. A White House official said both Erdoğan and Trump "discussed a wide range of issues" during the phone call but that "the comments were not true and the President did not apologize," according to Axios.
Shares