‘Vile and racist’: Donald Trump denies slur against ‘s***hole countries’ as critics pile on
US President Donald Trump sought on Friday to quell a global firestorm over his reported denunciation of immigration from “s***hole countries” – a slur slammed at home and abroad as racist.
Trump tweeted a convoluted denial early on Friday about the comments allegedly made on Thursday at a White House meeting with lawmakers on immigration reform.
“The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used,” Trump said, apparently referring to the remarks quoted by The Washington Post and The New York Times.
But Democratic Senator Dick Durbin – who was present at the meeting – publicly pushed back, saying Trump had repeatedly used “vile and racist” language.
Thursday’s White House huddle was held to discuss a bipartisan deal that would limit immigrants from bringing family members into the country, restrict the green card visa lottery and boost border security, in exchange for shielding hundreds of thousands of young people known as “Dreamers” from deportation.
The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used
Trump scrapped an Obama-era programme that gave the 800,000 young immigrants legal protection, setting a March deadline for Congress to offer a fix – though it has been reinstated by a court, for now.