The White House on Tuesday pushed back on the notion that President Trump’s “shithole countries” comments derailed negotiations on immigration and spending.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders blamed Democrats for the stalled talks.
“I think they’re using it as an excuse not to help this president get something accomplished, which I think is a sad day for our country,” she told reporters outside the West Wing.
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She accused Democrats of being too “willing to throw away the progress in negotiations” on government funding, defense spending and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Trump set off a firestorm in Washington last week when he reportedly used vulgar and insulting language to describe immigrants from certain countries during an Oval Office meeting.
The president was speaking with a bipartisan group of lawmakers who offered a compromise on DACA, the Obama-era program that protected young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children that Trump rescinded last year.
Trump tweeted Monday that Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) — whom he called “Dicky” — “totally misrepresented” his comments. Durbin was part of the group that met with Trump and later described his comments to the press.
Sanders said claims that Trump is racist are “outrageous, adding if that was the case, then “why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV? Why did Chuck Schumer and all of his colleagues come and beg Donald Trump for money?”
She was referring to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
The DACA negotiations have been tied to spending talks, which have also hit a snag following Trump’s comments saying certain immigrants were coming from “shithole countries.”
Lawmakers must pass a funding bill by Jan. 19 or the government will shut down.