Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen fought off claims that President Trump is a racist based on his comments about immigrants from poorer nations and a court decision blocking the end of DACA based on racial animus.
Nielsen said on “Fox News Sunday” she was offended by claims that Trump is a racist in the wake of him referring to poorer nations as “shithole countries” in a White House meeting. A federal judge also blocked his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, because it was based on racial animus against Latinos.
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Nielsen, who was in the meeting at the White House where Trump reportedly made his “shithole countries” comment, said she did not recall him using the phrase.
“I don’t recall him saying that exact phrase. I think he has been clear and I would certainly say undoubtedly the president will use, continue to use strong language when it comes to this issue,” she said. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]Republican Sen. David Perdue (Ga.) on Sunday said President Trump did not use the word “shithole” to refer to some African nations, Haiti, and El Salvador during a White House meeting with lawmakers.
During an interview on ABC’s “Meet the Press,” Perdue said the comment attributed to the president in The Washington Post is a “gross misrepresentation.”
“I’m telling you he did not use that word, George. And I’m telling you it’s a gross misrepresentation. How many times do you want me to say that?” Perdue said after host George Stephanopoulos pressed him for an answer.
Perdue was one of several lawmakers participating in a meeting with Trump last week, when the president reportedly referred to immigrants from African nations, El Salvador and Haiti as coming from “shithole countries.”
“The gross misrepresentation was that language was used in there that was not used and also that the tone of that meeting was not contributory and not constructive,” the Georgia Republican said. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) accused President Donald Trump on Friday of referring to African countries as “s***holes” during a meeting that they both attended on Thursday.
There’s just one problem with Durbin’s claims: He has a history of making up statements from private White House meetings.
In 2013, Politico reported:
“In a ‘negotiation’ meeting with the president, one GOP House Leader told [President Barack Obama]: ‘I cannot even stand to look at you,’” Durbin wrote in a post on his Facebook page over the weekend.
However, both the White House and the House speaker’s office denied Durbin’s account of events.
Asked about the post in the White House daily briefing, press secretary Jay Carney said he checked with a participant of the meeting in question.
“I looked into this and spoke with somebody who was in that meeting and it did not happen,” Carney said. – READ MORE