Q: What members of Congress were in the immigration/Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals meeting where President Donald Trump is reported to have used the “s***hole” word? How many of those have acknowledged the use or implied that the word was said?
—P.N. Mercer, Hoschton
A: On Jan. 11, Trump met with a group of senators in the Oval Office to discuss a bipartisan immigration compromise that might strengthen border security and legislatively address Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, before the program ends in March.
It was while discussing protections for immigrants from several countries that Trump reportedly said, “Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?”
CNN reported that Sens. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, who worked together on the proposal, were present at the meeting, along with Republican Sens. Tom Cotton (Arkansas) and David Perdue (Georgia) and Republican Reps. Bob Goodlatte (Virginia), Kevin McCarthy (California) and Mario Diaz-Balart (Florida).
Durbin has said the president used the expletive and called Trump’s language in the meeting “hate-filled” and “racist.” Cotton and Perdue released a joint statement, saying they did not hear Trump use that language. They argued the president was calling out an imbalance in the current immigration system, and in separate television news interviews, later accused Durbin of misrepresenting the president’s comments. According to CNN, Graham suggested Trump had said something questionable, but did not say he used that specific word.
Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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