Durbin Says Trump Used the ‘Vile and Vulgar Comments’ Repeatedly
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, was in the Oval Office when President Donald Trump called Haiti and African nations “shitholes,” said he wanted to take people from Haiti out of the bipartisan immigration bill, and wanted more people from Norway to immigrate to the U.S.
Trump’s remarks have outraged many across the nation – except for Republicans, who have largely remained silent (just four GOP lawmakers has spoken out).
Friday morning Senator Durbin spoke to reporters, verifying that reports in The Washington Post and other news outlets were accurate.
President Trump “said things that were hate-filled, vile and racist,” Durbin said before the cameras. “I cannot believe that in the history of the White House, in that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday.”
“I use those words advisedly. I understand how powerful they are, but I cannot believe that in the history of the White House and that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday. You’ve seen the comments in the press; I’ve not read one of them that’s inaccurate,” Durbin said, as NBC News reports.
“When the question was raised about Haitians for example — we have a group that have temporary protected status in the United States because they were the victims of crises and disasters and political upheaval. The largest group is El Salvador and the second is Honduran and the third is Haitian, and when I mentioned that fact to him he said, ‘Haitians? Do we need more Haitians?'” Dubin recounted.
“And then he went on when we 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 ‘shitholes.’ The exact word used by the president, not just once, but repeatedly.”
Â
Â
Â