Washington • Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, told CNN on Sunday that President Donald Trump was being racist when he referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as “s---hole countries.”
Love, the first and only Haitian-American in Congress, had previously called for Trump to apologize.
“I can’t defend the indefensible,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “You have to understand that there are countries that struggle out there. But their people, their people are good people and they’re part of us. We’re Americans.”
Pressed by Tapper as to whether the comments were racist, Love said, “I think they were, yes.”
“I think they were unfortunate,” she said. “I don’t know if they were taken — I wasn’t in the room. I know the comments were made. I don’t know in which context they were made. I’m looking forward to finding out what happened, but more importantly, I’m looking forward to fixing the problem.”
Trump on Sunday night again denied accusations that he is a racist.
“I’m not a racist. I’m the least racist person you will ever interview, that I can tell you,” he said.
Trump also has denied saying the vulgar comment during an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers.
But Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who was in the meeting, said Trump made the remark during a discussion about immigration.
“Why do we want all these people from s---hole countries coming here?” Trump reportedly said.
Love, whose parents, Mary and Jean Maxime Bourdeau, immigrated from Haiti to America, said Thursday that Trump’s remarks were “unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation’s values.”
