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Trump abruptly ends phone call with Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull as things get ugly

News Agencies | Updated on: 11 February 2017, 5:44 IST

President Donald Trump abruptly ended the phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as things got heated between the two leaders over the former's objection to an agreement about the U.S. receiving refugees.

According to CNN, Trump's apparent dispute with Turnbull on Saturday came on the same day that he held phone calls with four other world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The disagreement came as the two leaders discussed an agreement, reached under the Barack Obama administration, for the US to accept refugees from Australia who are living on islands in detention centers off the mainland due to strict government policies. Many of them are from the seven countries affected by Trump's travel ban.

According to sources, the U.S. President insisted that it was a very bad deal for Washington to take 2,000 refugees and that one of them was going to be the next Boston bomber.

Turnbull repeatedly told Trump that the agreement was for 1,250 refugees, not 2,000. He also said Australia was asking to submit them to the U.S. for refugee screening and if the refugees did not pass the screening process, they would not come.Trump expressed concern as to how this agreement from Obama's administration would go forward given his executive order the day before temporarily suspending the US refugee program.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer, had, however, earlier this week said the Trump administration would honor the agreement, saying the refugees would be submitted to "extreme vetting."

-ANI

First published: 2 February 2017, 11:52 IST