Trump ends call with Australia PM over refugee deal

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. February 2, 2017, 9:23 AM (IDT)

A heated exchange developed with US President Donald Trump, according to the Washington Post, when Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tried to confirm whether Trump would honor his deal with the Obama administration to take in 1,250 refugees. The call took place Saturday after President Trump put the entry of nationals from seven Muslim countries on hold, and referred to refugees housed on Manus Island Nauru in Papua New Guinea. The paper’s sources quote Trump as saying the deal could export the “next Boston bombers,” before ending the call.

Turnbull later told The Australian, “… the president assured me that he would continue with, honor the agreement we entered into with the Obama administration with respect to refugee resettlement.”

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