Days ago, The New York Times reported that, during a meeting on immigration, President Trump referred to Africa and Haiti as “shithole countries” and said he wanted more immigrants to come from places like Norway.
Now, after intense backlash from the media, the public, and other legislators in Washington, Trump is trying to walk back his comments and claim he welcomes immigrants from all over the world.
“I want them to come in from everywhere,” he said to reporters in the Oval Office in response to a question asking why he specifically wants immigrants from Norway.
"I want them to come in from everywhere," Pres. Trump says when asked about reported comments on preferring immigrants from countries such as Norway. https://t.co/ZTBEbwSME5 pic.twitter.com/Phusgie9lY
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— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 16, 2018
Trump first denied having used the word “shithole” during the meeting by tweeting that he’d used “tough language” but not the specific words reported. He then insisted he’d said “nothing derogatory” about Haitians, though he made no attempt to clarify if was guilty of doing so regarding Africa.
At this point, enough people who were present at the meeting in question have confirmed the accuracy of The Times’ reporting to leave any doubt that Trump indeed made those remarks. Two Republicans — Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) — initially attempted to deny having heard what the president said (“we do not recall the president saying these comments specificallyâ€), but later, sources revealed to both The Washington Post and The Times that Cotton and Perdue had carefully crafted their statement that way because they believed they’d heard Trump use the word “shithouse” and not “shithole.”
Trump’s continued denials look increasingly ridiculous as more information comes out.
