The United Nations human rights office on Friday labeled President Donald Trump’s reported “shithole countries” comment as racist.
“These are shocking and shameful comments from the President of the United States,” said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “I’m sorry, but there’s no other word one can use but racist.”
“You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes’ whose entire populations are not white and therefore not welcome,” Colville went on to say during a Geneva news briefing when asked about Trump’s reported comments.
Trump expressed frustration behind closed doors with people coming to the US from “shithole countries,” sources told CNN on Thursday. Trump denied using the vulgar language in a Friday morning tweet.
One of the sources briefed on the Thursday Oval Office meeting with lawmakers confirmed Trump asked, “Why do we want all these people from ‘shithole countries’ coming here?”
One person briefed on the meeting said when Haiti was mentioned during a discussion about protected status, Trump began to ask why we want people from Haiti and more Africans in the US and added that the US should get more people from countries like Norway. A person familiar with what was said at the meeting told CNN that Trump also said: “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.”
The Washington Post first reported on Trump’s comments in the Oval Office meeting.
