New race storm at White House
DONALD Trump ran for cover last night when he was accused of being a racist for describing Haiti, El Salvador and Africa as ‘s***holes’.
The US President rushed out of a press conference at the White House when reporters tried to quiz him on his comments.
American newspapers reported that he said: ‘Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?’
They said Mr Trump’s remark was in reference to African countries and Haiti. The Washington Post included El Salvador on its list. He is said to have suggested the US should instead welcome immigrants from countries such as Norway.
Yesterday the President tweeted a denial, saying: ‘This was not the language used. Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country.’
Dick Durbin, a Democrat politician, said he had been involved in the meeting with Mr Trump, adding: ‘He used these vile and vulgar comments calling the nations they come from ‘s***holes’ – the exact word used by the President, not just once but repeatedly.’
Rupert Colville, a UN spokesman, said the attributed remarks were racist: ‘You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as “s***holes”, whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome.’
In Botswana, ministers summoned the US ambassador to express displeasure at the ‘irresponsible, reprehensible and racist utterances’.
Mr Trump suffered double embarrassment because the confrontation with reporters was at a Martin Luther King Day event.