Durbin: Trump’s 2018 Racist Reference To “S-Hole” Countries Was An Embarrassment

WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke about President Donald Trump finally admitting that he used the slur “shithole countries” to denigrate Haiti and African nations during a 2018 meeting in the Oval Office that Durbin attended. Trumpadmittedto this comment during his rally in Pennsylvania last night. Following the 2018 meeting, Durbin wascriticizedby Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and then-Senator David Perdue (R-GA), as well asPresident Trump himself, for corroborating media reports of Trump’s “shithole countries” comment, with Trump claiming Durbin “totally misrepresented” what he had said.
“The meeting was historic… The President spoke at length about his views on immigration. The conversation declined at some point to a level I’d never expected to witness in my life. The President started saying things about immigrants in ways I thought had never been said before in the White House,”Durbin said.“He used terminology, which I will not repeat on the Senate floor, but he referred to a phrase of ‘s-hole’ nations. I was shocked to hear it. I heard him refer to several countries in this fashion. And I thought to myself, how have we reached a point where we discuss immigration in such crude and vulgar terms. After I left the White House, it leaked out what the President had said, and the White House denied it. They said it didn’t happen. I said it did, they said I’m lying to the point where two of my Republican Senate colleagues went on television several days later and said that I lied when the President made those statements. Well yesterday at his rally in Pennsylvania, President Trump admitted that he used the slur that I referred to earlier to disparage Haiti and African nations during that 2018 meeting with lawmakers, bragging about a comment that sparked global outrage during his first term.”
Durbin continued,“For [nearly eight] years, I have lived with the shadow of people saying that I misled the American people as to what the President said. Yesterday, he admitted what he said… We have to get beyond crudity and vulgarity and what we’ve seen in the extreme in the last several months when it comes to immigration.”
Durbin concluded,“We are a nation of immigrants, and I’m proud of that fact… The reference in 2018 was an embarrassment—an embarrassment to the White House, to the Oval Office, and to the presidency. I’m glad that the President has finally admitted what happened on that day.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is availablehere.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is availablehere.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is availableherefor TV Stations.
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