The husband of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox has issued a searing criticism of Donald Trump for sharing Islamophobic videos on Twitter, saying the president should be “ashamed”.

Earlier this week, Trump retweeted three videos from the Twitter account of Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of far-right group Britain First, who was recently charged with religiously aggravated harassment. The videos claimed to show Muslims committing violent acts, although the credibility of at least one of the clips has already been undermined.

The man who killed Jo Cox, Thomas Mair, is a neo-Nazi who shouted “Britain first” as he stabbed her to death in June 2016. Mair is not thought to have been a paid-up member of the organisation Britain First, but he certainly subscribed to the group’s racist, Islamophobic, xenophobic, anti-immigration rhetoric.

In the wake of Trump’s controversial retweets, Brendan Cox said that the president should consider the repercussions of sharing Islamophobic content.

“Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences and the president should be ashamed of himself,” Cox wrote on Twitter.

In an op-ed for The Guardian, Cox said: “When the president of the United States promotes the deputy leader of a far-right organisation, it makes it easier for others to follow her example – and perhaps go further.”

He later added on Twitter: “Thank you to everyone who has sent their support today, especially to all the Americans – including Republicans – who have reached out to say Trump doesn’t represent the views and values of your great country.”

Jo Cox’s widower exposes the danger of Trump’s Islamophobic tweets