Donald Trump insists he is the ‘least racist person’

WASHINGTON: Triggering a global storm with a blatantly racial comment about Haiti, El Salvador and African countries during a White House discussion on immigration, US President Donald Trump on Sunday denied he had used the term “s***hole” and insisted he isn’t a racist.

“I’m not a racist,’ Trump told reporters at his Florida resort in response to a question. “I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed, that I can tell you.”

He also denied calling the nations in question “s***hole” countries. “Well, did you see what various senators in the room said about my comments? They weren’t made.”

Two Republican senators have backed Trump, but at least one other Republican senator and a Democrat senator have confirmed Trump did use the term.

Trump had used the phrase while he was discussing doing away with a visa lottery system that the United States has used to allow people from countries that are not a major source of immigrants. He reportedly said: “Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?”

Criticism has continued unabated since, at home and abroad. South Africa issued a demarche on Monday, seeking an explanation to Trump’s “crude and offensive” statement and the African Union has demanded a retraction of the comment and an apology.