Trump defends against renewed racist claims

Witnesses insist he did, or didn’t, swear

WEST PALM BEACH: US President Donald Trump is defending himself anew against accusations that he is racist, this time after recent disparaging comments about Haiti and African nations.

“No, no. I’m not a racist,” Mr Trump said, after reporters asked him to respond to those who think he is. “I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. That I can tell you.”

Mr Trump also denied making the statements attributed to him, but avoided the details of what he did or did not say.

“Did you see what various senators in the room said about my comments [in the Oval Office on Thursday]?” he asked. “They weren’t made.”

Mr Trump stands accused of using “shithole” to describe African countries during an immigration meeting with a bipartisan group of six senators. The president, in the meeting, also questioned the need to admit more Haitians to the US, according to people who were briefed on the conversation but were not authorized to describe the meeting publicly.

Mr Trump said in the meeting that he would prefer immigrants from countries like Norway instead.

The White House has not denied that Mr Trump said “shithole” though Mr Trump has already pushed back on some depictions of the meeting.

A confidant of Mr Trump’s said the president spent Thursday evening calling friends and outside advisers to judge their reaction to his remarks. Mr Trump wasn’t apologetic, instead blaming the media for distorting his meaning, said the confidant, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the only Democrat at Thursday’s meeting, said Mr Trump had indeed said what he was reported to have said. Mr Durbin said the remarks were “vile, hate-filled and clearly racial in their content”. He said Mr Trump used the vulgar term “more than once.”

Mr Trump commented as Mr Durbin was presenting details of a compromise immigration plan that included providing US$1.6 billion for a first installment of the president’s border wall.

Mr Trump took particular issue with the idea that people who’d fled to the US after disasters hit their homes in places such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti would be allowed to stay as part of the deal, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

When it came to talk of extending protections for Haitians, Mr Durbin said Mr Trump replied: “We don’t need more Haitians”.’ “He said: ‘Put me down for wanting more Europeans to come to this country. Why don’t we get more people from Norway?”’ Mr Durbin said.

Republican Senators David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who also attended the meeting, initially said in a statement on Friday that they “do not recall the president saying these comments specifically”. On Sunday, they backtracked and challenged other senators’ descriptions of the remarks.

Mr Perdue described as a “gross misrepresentation” reports Mr Trump used the vulgarity. He said Mr Durbin and Republican Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were mistaken in indicating that was the case. Mr Graham also attended the meeting. “I am telling you that he did not use that word. And I’m telling you it’s a gross misrepresentation,” Mr Perdue said on ABC’s This Week.

Mr Cotton told CBS’ Face the Nation that he “didn’t hear” the word used — “and I was sitting no further away from Donald Trump than Dick Durbin was”.

Mr Trump insisted in a tweet on Friday that he “never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out’. Made up by Dems.” Mr Trump wrote, “I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings — unfortunately, no trust!”

The president has defended himself against accusations of being a racist on numerous occasions, including during his insistence that preceding president Barack Obama was not American-born and after he opened his presidential campaign in 2015 by describing Mexicans as rapists and drug peddlers.

Word of Mr Trump’s comments threatened to upend delicate negotiations over resolving the status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.

Mr Trump announced last year that he will end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, or DACA, unless lawmakers come up with a solution by March.

The programme shielded these immigrants, often referred to as “Dreamers”, from deportation and granted them permits to work.

Mr Trump tweeted earlier on Sunday that the programme is “probably dead” and blamed Democrats. He elaborated on the way to dinner Sunday night with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, saying Democrats “don’t want to help the DACA people”.

Some Democrats have threatened to vote against legislation to extend government funding, which expires on Friday, unless protections for the Dreamers are included. “Honestly I don’t think the Democrats want to make a deal,” Mr Trump said.

“I think they talk about DACA, but they don’t want to help the DACA people.”