Andre Walker
Townhall
LONDON, United Kingdom – Donald Trump has raised eyebrows throughout his campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination with comments he has made in the past constantly coming back to haunt him. However, across the pond in the UK it is his actions, in meeting the former boss of the Irish terrorists group the IRA, that are causing concerns.
For decades the IRA's spokesman, Gerry Adams, had been banned from the US because of his involvement in terrorism. But all that changed under Bill Clinton, when he was granted a 48-hour visa to visit the country. It was granted despite bitter complaints from officials in the British Foreign Office, and the US State Department. Both sides felt the 'Special Relationship' was put at risk by the presence of Adams on American soil.
Mr Adams used a second trip the following year to attend a $200 a head fund-raising dinner with the glitterati of New York society. At the time AP said: “Barred from the United States until last year, Adams drew celebrities and supporters to a posh Manhattan hotel for an unprecedented fund-raiser Wednesday.
"Bianca Jagger, Tom Hayden, moviemaker Michael Moore and ex-mayor David Dinkins were among those paying $200 a plate to rub shoulders with Adams as Irish nationalist fund raising came out of the closet."
As photos from the time show, Donald Trump was also at the fund-raiser, but he was not joined by any other Republican Presidential hopefuls. The meeting gave Trump the opportunity to shake the hand of a man who, according to the Irish Prime Minister, was on the IRA Army Council at the time it ordered the killing of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984.
Thatcher was blown up at Conservative Party Conference in Brighton that year, and only survived because she was not in her bed when the bomb went off 3am. Five Conservatives were killed in the attack and a further 31 serious injured.
More here:
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/andrewalker/2015/08/24/why-did-donald-trump-pay-to-meet-terrorist-boss-n2043069
