Nearly eight years later, President Trump has finally confirmed reports that he referred to Haiti and African nations as “s–thole countries” during a private 2018 meeting with lawmakers.
Trump adamantly claimed at the time that he hadn’t used the vulgar phrase. Republican surrogates, including former Georgia Sen. David Perdue and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, rushed to the president’s defense after the alleged slur stirred a global controversy, according to CNN.
But Trump recalled the very moment that he did indeed use those words while delivering a speech to supporters in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night. He said the insult was invoked by him during an off-the-record meeting with senators during a discussion about immigration.
This is—and always was—a lie. https://t.co/P4hAWYwzfY pic.twitter.com/pPQQBao2sG
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 10, 2025
“We had a meeting and I say, ‘Why is it we only take people from s–hole countries, right?’ Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden — just a few — let us have a few,” he told the laughing rally crowd. “From Denmark — do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people, do you mind?”
Instead, he groused the U.S. was taking in refugees from places he doesn’t find appealing.
“We always take people from Somalia,” Trump recalled Tuesday. “Places that are a disaster. Right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”
Reports from 2018 claimed Trump was particularly displeased that people fleeing the Caribbean island of Haiti were entering the U.S.
On Wednesday, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin posted a video of Trump’s belated admission on social media, along with a January 2018 tweet from the president alleging that Durbin was lying about witnessing the “s—hole” comment.
“This is — and always was — a lie,” Durbin commented.
Trump last week referred to people from Somalia, including Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, as “garbage.”
