MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace on Thursday ripped President Trump following his reported comments referring to African nations and Haiti as “shithole countries.”
Trump made the remark during an Oval Office meeting on immigration where lawmakers floated the idea of reinstating Temporary Protected Status for countries that had had their protections revoked, The Washington Post and other outlets reported.
“This is so abnormal. This is a freak show,” Wallace said on MSNBC.
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“Donald Trump disgraced the country if what is reported out of this meeting is true,” the “Deadline: White House” anchor added.
“He speaks in a racist way about Haitians,” she added of Trump elsewhere in the discussion.
The White House issued a statement Thursday that did not deny that Trump referred to some immigrants as coming from “shithole countries” during the heated Oval Office meeting on immigration.
“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said in the statement.
Trump’s comments sparked instant backlash, with Democrats blasting the remark and several Republicans calling for the White House to clarify the comment.
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said at the meeting Thursday, sources confirmed to The Washington Post.
The president also suggested the U.S. should bring in more immigrants from countries such as Norway, the prime minister of which he met with on Wednesday.