3 Republicans who were at the immigration meeting deny hearing Trump say 'shithole'

last updated 15 January 2018

Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Sunday all denied hearing President Trump call Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations "shithole countries" during a Thursday meeting on immigration policy.

Purdue said on ABC's This Week that the quote is a "gross misrepresentation" of Trump's remarks, while Cotton said in a CBS interview that he "didn't hear" it, and Nielsen said on Fox News Sunday that she doesn't "recall him saying that exact phrase."

The comment was originally reported by The Washington Post and confirmed by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told him the Post's report is "basically accurate." The White House did not deny the report, but Trump did, tweeting that "this was not the language used." Other meeting attendees have yet to speak up.

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Watch Cotton's comments in context below. Bonnie Kristian

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.