Less than a month after the New York Times reported President Trump had claimed Haitians “all have AIDS” and all Nigerians live in “huts,” the Washington Post dropped an eerily similar bombshell on Thursday. While discussing the bipartisan immigration deal announced by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) during an Oval Office Meeting, the president reportedly lost it when lawmakers presented “floated restoring protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries.” And by “lost it,” we mean to say Trump allegedly raged against what he called “sh*thole countries.” Here’s more:
“Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here?” Trump said, according to these people, referring to African countries and Haiti. He then suggested that the United States should instead bring more people from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he met yesterday.
Trump’s outburst apparently left officials like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) “taken aback.” Meanwhile, the White House did not offer the Post any immediate comment regarding the president’s supposed remarks. Soon after the story began spreading on social media, NBC News began floating similar accounts (with similar language) from the Oval Office immigration meeting. Per CNBC’s Christina Wilkie:
.@NBCNews source: As Durbin explained how deal would impact ppl from Haiti, Trump said, "Haiti? Why do we want people from Haiti here?" Then they got Africa. 'Why do we want these people from all these shithole countries here? We should have more people from places like Norway."
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) January 11, 2018
Despite a general outpouring of shock and disgust online, a few of Trump’s more ardently anti-immigration supporters seemed happy to hear about his latest language preference. Like Ann Coulter, whose tweet regarding the Post‘s story referenced her previous disappointment with his seemingly pro-DACA dealings in September. “He’s trying to win me back,” she quipped.
He's trying to win me back. https://t.co/JEmlyqd7ZY
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 11, 2018
UPDATE – 5:20pm EST: Buzzfeed News has spoken to a source who confirms that the “sh*thole” comment occurred. In addition, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah has issued a statement on this report, and he’s not denying it at all.
Statement from @rajshah45 on WaPo "shithole" story, via @JaxAlemany pic.twitter.com/fY6yDTCeRZ
— Stefan Becket (@becket) January 11, 2018
(Via Washington Post and NBC News)