Amanda Knox Speaks Out Against Donald Trump, Continues Defending Her Opposition

05/05/2017 02:24 pm EDT

Amanda Knox has spoken out against President Donald Trump claiming that she doesn't owe the former Apprentice star her support even though he defended her innocence years ago when Knox was wrongly arrested on murder charges.

In an op-ed published in the LA Times on Thursday, Amanda Knox explained her reasoning behind backing Hilary Clinton during the presidential election, and also why she doesn't feel obligated to give President Trump her loyalty.

"Only in banana republics do political leaders dole out favors to citizens in exchange for their silence and their vote," Knox said.

In 2009, Knox was convicted of the 2007 murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy. She was initially sentenced to 26 years in prison. Her case dragged on for years before she was eventually cleared and freed in 2011. However, the appeals process didn't finally come to an end until 2015.

Back in 2011, Donald Trump took to social media to defend Knox's innocence. Not only was the President outspoken in his support of Knox, but also he donated money to her defense fund.

Amanda says that people should not support a presidential candidate out of a sense of party identity but rather based on policy.

"Just as a person's support of me should not be based upon my politics or identity, hinging instead on the fact of my innocence, so should my politics hinge on the merits of policy, not personal loyalty," she wrote.

She continued by writing: "I discovered just how blinding loyalty could be when, in December 2009, an Italian court convinced me of a murder I didn't commit. That judgment rested heavily on the court's bias in favor of the prosecution, which represented the Italian people and the Italian state, over the defense, which represented a foreigner. This is loyalty taken too far. And it calls to mind the party-over-policy approach that currently plagues our own politics."

"Trump recognized me as a fellow American who deserved to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, but he condemned the Central Park Five as 'other' – guilty until proven innocent," she wrote.

"By holding personal loyalty above all else, Trump and some of his supporters create a political environment where reason and justice hold little sway."

Knox concluded by saying: "What do I owe Trump? A thank you for his well-intentioned, if undiplomatic, support. So for the record: Thank you, Mr. President. But the more important question is, what do I owe my country? Civic engagement, careful consideration of issues that affect my fellow citizens, and support for policies that deserve support, even if it makes the president 'very upset.'"

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[H/T LA Times, Daily Mail]

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