President Donald Trump not only used "hate-filled, vile and racist" language about immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and Africa during a meeting Thursday at the White House, but he used the words "repeatedly," Sen. Dick Durbin said Friday.
"Sen. [Lindsey] Graham made the presentation [and] the president interrupted him several times with questions, and in the course of his comments, said things which were hate-filled, vile and racist," said the Illinois Democrat, who was at the meeting to discuss a plan that he and Graham had reached on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.
"He used those words," Durbin told MSNBC. "I understand how powerful they are. I cannot believe that in the history of the White House, in that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday."
During Thursday's meeting, Durbin and Graham, R-S.C., presented their proposal to cut the visa lottery program by 50 percent, while prioritizing countries already in the system, The Washington Post reported in its initial story about the comments Trump had made.
However, on Friday morning, Trump posted a pair of tweets denying he'd made the statement.
A person familiar with the meeting said that when Durbin got to Haiti, Trump asked why the United States would want people from "sh**holes" like Haiti and Africa, commenting that the United States should get more people from places like Norway, reports CNN.
"You've seen the comments in the press," Durbin said Friday. "I've not read one of them that's inaccurate. To no surprise, the president started tweeting this morning, denying that he used those words. It is not true. He said these hate-filled things. And he said them repeatedly."
When it comes to Haiti, that is a group of people that has temporary protected status in the United States after they were victims of crises, disasters, and political upheaval, said Durbin.
"When I mentioned that fact to him, he said, 'Haitians, do we need more Haitians?' Then he went on and started to describe the immigration from Africa that was being protected in this bipartisan measure. That's when he used these vile and vulgar comments, calling the nations they come from 's***holes,'" said Durbin, repeating the profanity.
"That was the exact word used by the president," Durbin said. "Not once, but repeatedly. That was the nature of this conversation."
Durbin also said he told the president that another term he uses, "chain migration" hurts many African-Americans, whose ancestors were brought to the United States in chains.
"When you talk about chain migration, it hurts them personally," Durbin said he told Trump.
"He said, 'Oh, that's a good line,'" said Durbin. "And then when I talked to him about the impact this has on family unification in a nation that values families with the flag as the most important symbol of our future, they scoffed at this notion. It was a heartbreaking moment."
Durbin insisted, however, that he personally will not quit fighting for the nation's Dreamers.
"I have a singular mission: to give these dreamers and as many members of their families as possible a chance to be part of America's future in a legal status," said Durbin. "I am convinced that there's a majority in both the House and the Senate of Democrats and Republicans who support that concept. I know there's an overwhelming majority of Americans who support that concept."
Durbin said that he and Graham will prepare their bipartisan agreement to introduce it to the Senate next week.
"If the Republican leadership has a better alternative, bring it forward," said Durbin.
"If they don't, for goodness sakes, give us a vote. I'll be on the phone today with my Republican colleagues and my Democratic colleagues begging them to support this measure.
"Time is running out. We have to get this done. I thought we might get a bipartisan agreement approved by the White House. [That] died yesterday."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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