Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets, attends a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be Ambassador to the United Kingdom,. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The United States and United Kingdom have enjoyed close ties that Winston Churchill called the Special Relationship -- a camaraderie that transcends the Atlantic and the roots of America as U.K.'s breakaway colony.
But that has strained into a special misunderstanding this week, after President Trump has pulled out of the new London embassy dedication slated for next week, and blasted the billion dollar construction of the glassy diplomatic headquarters. "Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,"" Trump wrote on Twitter late Thursday. "Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!"
Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Hours later, Trump's diplomatic appointee to the U.K., businessman and New York Jets owner Robert "Woody" Johnson, took an entirely different approach to the embassy's relocation and construction in an age where Trump has vowed to shake up America's place in the world -- even among rock solid NATO allies like Germany, and it would appear, in the U.K. as well.
"The new embassy is not just bigger, it is better and capable of meeting the complex challenges of the 21st century and beyond. It is the most secure, hi-tech and environmentally friendly embassy that the United States has ever built," Johnson wrote in the U.K.'s Evening Standard newspaper.
Yet its "off location" Trump described is by design. The sprawling 450-acre grounds south of the Thames River, fixed on a hill and surrounded by a moat and other security measures, fulfills security requirements that embassies are isolated from other buildings and 100 feet away from roads to avoid car bombs and other attacks following the al-Qaeda embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. The old embassy is located in a bustling area of central London flanked by buildings, and has struggled to keep pace with rising staff levels there.
"Security concerns after September 11 meant we had to move to a location that could better protect American citizens and our British neighbours," Johnson wrote.
[Trump canceled his trip to the U.S. Embassy in London, but his Madame Tussauds waxwork made it]
Johnson's historical reinforcement of the Special Relationship, including founding fathers Benjamin Franklin and John Adams traversing Grosvenor Square in the 1700s, appears to be an effort to recover recently strained relations. Trump sparked outrage among the Parliament and drew sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Theresa May after the president retweeted posts from a fringe anti-Muslim group in November.
The ambassador's breakdown of the cost also is at odds with the president. Trump called it a "bad deal" after Johnson described the cost, the most expensive embassy ever, as a bargain. The money was raised by selling other U.S. government property in London, Johnson wrote, and "the new embassy did not cost the U.S. taxpayer a cent. Yet is one of the most advanced embassies we have ever built."
The final pieces of construction work are completed on the new U.S. Embassy in Nine Elms in London. (REUTERS/Peter Nicholls)
The Evening Standard referred questions on Johnson's commentary piece to the U.S. Embassy, which did not return comment about the timing of Johnson's story or coordination with the White House on its messaging. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not return a request for comment.
Trump's abrupt cancellation brought speculation the president wilted to pressure from intense scrutiny in the U.K. following his divisive rhetoric. “It seems he's finally got that message,” wrote London's mayor, Sadiq Khan on Twitter in response to Trump's message about his travel cancellation. That message was echoed by David Lammy, a lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party, who believed Trump was shaken by the prospect of being “met by millions of us out on the streets protesting."
U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a frequent defender of Trump, accused Khan and others of endangering the "crucial relationship."
Trump's roiling of diplomatic relations caused disruptions in the Western Hemisphere as well. U.S. Ambassador to Panama John Feeley resigned in protest effective March 9 following Trump's descriptions of Latin American nations like Haiti and El Salvador as "shithole countries," Reuters reported Friday, after it obtained his resignation later.
“As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies. My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come," Feeley wrote.
Read more:
‘Here is what my #shithole looks like’: African countries and Haiti react to Trump’s remark
Trump’s new ambassador ignored questions from Dutch reporters. Now, U.S. reporters want answers.
From London to Jerusalem, a look at Trump’s trail of embassy controversy
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