Trump dishes up fresh dose of chaos aimed at May, Londoners

Dishing up a fresh dose of chaos on his European tour, President Donald Trump left behind a contentious NATO gathering in Brussels and moved on to Britain, where a pomp-filled welcome ceremony was soon overshadowed by an interview in which Trump blasted Prime Minister Theresa May, blamed London's mayor for terror attacks against the city and argued that Europe was "losing its culture" because of immigration.

Trump, in an interview with The Sun newspaper, said he felt unwelcome in London because of protests, including plans to fly a giant balloon over Parliament on Friday that depicts him as an angry baby in a diaper.

U.S. President Donald Trump raises his hands during a press conference after a summit of heads of state and government at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 12, 2018. NATO leaders gather in Brussels for a two-day summit. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

"I guess when they put out blimps to make me feel unwelcome, no reason for me to go to London," he said.

Trump, in the interview given before he left Brussels for the U.K., accused May of ruining what her country stands to gain from the Brexit vote to leave the European Union. He said her former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, would make an "excellent" prime minister, speaking just days after Johnson resigned his position in protest over May's Brexit plans.

Trump added that May's "soft" blueprint for the U.K.'s future dealings with the EU would probably "kill" any future trade deals with the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference before departing the NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

"If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the U.K., so it will probably kill the deal," Trump told the paper.

Trump, who has compared his own election to the June 2016 referendum in which a majority of British voters supported leaving the EU, complained, "The deal she is striking is a much different deal than the one the people voted on."

He also told the tabloid that he'd shared advice with May during Britain's negotiations with the EU and she ignored it.

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures while speakings during a news conference before departing the NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 12, 2018. With Trump on stage are Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, behind Trump, and National security adviser John Bolton, right. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Details from Trump's interview with the paper became public as Trump was attending a black-tie dinner with May to welcome him to Britain with pomp and pageantry.

As for Johnson, Trump said: "I think he would be a great prime minister. I think he's got what it takes." He added, "I think he is a great representative for your country."

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement after the tabloid interview was published, saying Trump "likes and respects Prime Minister May very much.

"As he said in his interview with the Sun she 'is a very good person' and he 'never said anything bad about her.' He thought she was great on NATO today and is a really terrific person," Sanders wrote.

On Thursday night, hundreds of demonstrators chanted outside the U.S. ambassador's residence where Trump was staying on the outskirts of London, providing a preview of the forceful protests expected on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference after a summit of heads of state and government at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 12, 2018. NATO leaders gather in Brussels for a two-day summit. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Trump acknowledged he didn't feel welcome in the city, and blamed that in part on Mayor Sadiq Khan, who gave protesters permission to fly the 20-foot-tall balloon depicting Trump as an angry baby.

Trump also blamed recent terrorist attacks there on Khan, who is a Muslim. The president claimed Europe is "losing its culture" because of immigration from the Middle East and Africa.

"Allowing the immigration to take place in Europe is a sham," he said. "I think it changed the fabric of Europe and, unless you act very quickly, it's never going to be what it was and I don't mean that in a positive way."

In sharp contrast to the president's sharp words, Trump's first event in England was an oasis of warm greetings at an evening reception at Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill, the larger-than-life British leader cited by the president as a model of leadership. That was just one of several helicopter rides on the agenda for Trump, whose staff opted to keep him largely out of central London and the swarms of demonstrators who are likely to provide some of the defining images of his first official trip to the U.K.

From left, first lady Melania Trump, President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May, and her husband Philip May, stand during the arrival ceremony at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, Thursday, July 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Trump's Marine One departure from the ambassador's residence was met by jeers from demonstrators banging pots and pans, and another pack of protesters lined roads near the palace. Some of their signs read "Dump Trump," ''Lock Him Up" and "There Will Be Hell Toupee." Police worked overtime, their days off cancelled.

Trump was greeted at the palace by May, whose government has been rocked by resignations from ongoing tumult over Brexit.

The outdoor arrival ceremony at Blenheim — Trump wore a tuxedo and first lady Melania Trump a butter-yellow, chiffon, off-the-shoulder gown — was a grand affair marked by a military band in bearskin hats, hundreds of business leaders in black tie and gorgeous setting sunlight.

The mood was far less jovial in Belgium earlier in the day.

During his 28 hours there, Trump had disparaged longtime NATO allies, cast doubt on his commitment to the mutual-defense organization and sent the 29-member pact into a frenzied emergency session.

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures while speakings during a news conference before departing the NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 12, 2018. With Trump on stage are Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, behind Trump, and National security adviser John Bolton, right. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Then, in a head-snapping pivot at the end, he declared the alliance a "fine-tuned machine" that had acceded to his demands to speed up increases in military spending to relieve pressure on the U.S. budget. But there was little evidence other leaders had bowed to his wishes on that front.

Trump claimed member nations had agreed to boost their defense budgets significantly and reaffirmed — after days of griping that the U.S. was being taken advantage of by its allies — that the U.S. remains faithful to the accord.

"The United States' commitment to NATO remains very strong," Trump told reporters at a surprise news conference following the emergency session of NATO members.

A helicopter leaves the grounds of the US ambassador residence in Regent's Park, London, while demonstrators protest against the visit of US President Donald Trump Thursday July 12, 2018. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP)

Neither Trump nor NATO offered specifics on what Trump said he had achieved. French President Emmanuel Macron quickly disputed Trump's claim that NATO allies had agreed to boost defense spending beyond their existing goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2024.

"There is a communique that was published yesterday; it's very detailed," Macron said. "It confirms the goal of 2 percent by 2024. That's all."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes represented the “best of humanity” and risked everything “to feed people they did not know and will never meet,” José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded the organization, told mourners who gathered Thursday to honor the dead.

Speaking at Washington National Cathedral, Andrés said there was no excuse for the killings and he called for an investigation into the deaths. He appeared to struggle at times to maintain his composure, his words focused on the lives and contributions of the aid workers as he pleaded for greater compassion.

“The seven souls we mourn today were there so that hungry people could eat,” said Andrés, reading aloud their names. "Their examples should inspire us to do better, to be better.”

The workers were killed April 1 when strikes from Israeli armed drones ripped through vehicles in their convoy as they left one of World Central Kitchen’s warehouses on a food delivery mission: Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha; Britons John Chapman, James Kirby and James Henderson; dual U.S.-Canadian citizen Jacob Flickinger; Australian Lalzawmi Frankcom; and Polish citizen Damiam Sobol.

Andrés spoke in depth about each one and their contributions to the work of feeding people suffering through disaster and deprivation — human-made and natural — around the world.

He said Abutaha was an integral member of the team who was very close to his family. He said Chapman was “brave, selfless and strong” and had the ability to make people around him feel “loved and protected.”

Andrés said Flickinger was a problem-solver, “exactly what you need” in the chaos of a disaster zone and Frankcom gave “joy to others even more than she gave food."

He talked of how Henderson had taught first aid in Ukraine and was an avid rugby player. He said Kirby, known to friends as “Kirbs," was driven to help people in need. And he said a town in Turkey had named a street after Sobol, in honor of his work there after an earthquake.

At times, Andrés spoke emotionally about the organization's mission and why aid workers do what they do.

“We stand next to communities as they feed themselves, nourish themselves, heal themselves. People don’t want our pity. They want our respect. Our only way to show respect is facing the mayhem alongside them,” he said. “We remind them by showing up that they are not alone in the darkness.”

After an unusually swift investigation, Israel said the military officials involved in the attack had violated policy by acting based on a single grainy photo that one officer had contended — incorrectly — showed one of the seven workers was armed. The Israeli military dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others.

“I know we all have many unanswered questions about what happened and why. There is no excuse for these killings," Andrés told mourners, demanding an investigation. "The official explanation is not good enough.”

The aid workers, whose trip had been coordinated with Israeli officials, are among more than 220 humanitarian workers killed in the Israel-Hamas war that began Oct. 7, according to the United Nations. That includes at least 30 killed in the line of duty.

The international prominence and popularity of Andrés and his nonprofit work galvanized widespread outrage over the killings of the group’s workers. The deaths intensified demands from the administration and others that Israel’s military change how it operates in Hamas-controlled Gaza to spare aid workers and Palestinian civilians in the territory who are facing a humanitarian crisis and desperately need aid from relief organizations as the U.N. warns of looming famine.

World Central Kitchen, along with several other humanitarian aid agencies, suspended work in the territory after the attack. “We haven’t given up,” World Central Kitchen spokesperson Linda Roth said last week. “We are in funeral mode right now.”

Douglas Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, and Kurt Campbell, the deputy secretary of state, were among those at the event, joined by diplomats from more than 30 countries, along with representatives from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, one of the most active lawmakers pushing President Joe Biden to condition military aid on improved Israeli treatment of aid workers and Palestinian civilians, joined the mourners as a lone bagpiper played.

Associated Press writers Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to reflect that Kurt Campbell is the deputy secretary of state, not the assistant deputy secretary of state.

FILE - Palestinians inspect a vehicle with the logo of the World Central Kitchen wrecked by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, April 2, 2024. A memorial at the National Cathedral in Washington, on April 25, will honor seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza earlier this month. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah, File)