President Trump hung up on Australian leader after blasting refugee deal as exporting 'next Boston bombers'

President Donald Trump, seated at his desk with National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and senior advisor Steve Bannon, spoke to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Saturday. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

President Trump lambasted the leader of Australia over a refugee agreement before asserting “this was the worst call by far” and abruptly hanging up the phone, according senior officials.

During what was supposed to be an hour-long call with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Trump complained that he was “going to get killed” politically because of an Obama administration agreement to admit 1,250 refugees living on islands off the north coast of Australia, officials told the Washington Post.

Trump apparently also boasted about his Electoral College win and blasted Turnbull for supposedly trying to export the “next Boston bombers.” The hotheaded President aggressively ended the call after 25 minutes, according to officials briefed on the matter.

Trump was on the phone with four other world leaders on Saturday — including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As news of the heated exchange got out Wednesday, Trump continued to bash the refugee agreement in a late night tweet.

“Do you believe it?” the President tweeted. “The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal.”

Prime Minister Turnbull declined to comment on the apparently hostile overseas call, and would not immediately reveal how many refugees are expected to be resettled in the U.S.

Prime Minister Turnbull declined to comment on the allegedly hostile phone call. (Stefan Postles/Getty Images)

White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. will make good on the Obama administration agreement, but that the refugees will be subjected to “extreme vetting.”

“There will be extreme vetting applied to all of them,” Spicer said.
Some 1,200 mostly Muslim refugees eligible to seek asylum in the U.S. under the agreement are being held on Papua New Guinea and Naurau. Another 400 who traveled to mainland Australia and refused to go back to the islands are also covered by the deal

The official account of Trump’s conversation with Turnbull contrasted greatly from the portrayal that emerged Wednesday.

Some 1,200 mostly Muslim refugees eligible to seek asylum in the U.S. are being held on Papua New Guinea and Naurau off the north coast of Australia. (Rick Rycroft/AP)

The White House said the two leaders had “emphasized the enduring strength and closeness of the U.S.-Australia relationship that is critical for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and globally.”

A spokesman for the White House did not immediately respond to questions from the Daily News.
Trump’s apparent hostility toward Turnbull could signal that the President is prepared to disparage world leaders in a similar way to how he lashes out against media organizations and individual journalists over Twitter.

Admitting hundreds of refugees — most of whom are Muslim — would violate Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration, which has temporarily suspended the admittance of refugees and the issuing of visas and travel permits to citizens of seven Muslim majority nations.