Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) called Friday for President Trump’s impeachment after reports that Trump called Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations “shithole countries” in a meeting with lawmakers.
“No longer can Members of Congress, particularly Republicans, stand with such a dangerous, disturbed, and deceitful man who is a threat to everything for which America, the greatest democracy on earth, stands,” Waters said in a statement. “Congress has a constitutional responsibility to impeach him without delay.”
Waters said Trump is “a racist and indecent man with no good values” and said he “dog-whistled his way into the White House” on a campaign of “hate, bigotry and fear.”
{mosads}“That this president, a deeply flawed human being with no understanding of public policy, would make such ill-informed and deplorable comments about Haitians, Salvadorans, and immigrants from African countries, merely underscores everything we already know about him: he is a hopeless and ignorant bigot,” she said.
Earlier Friday, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) pledged to force another House floor vote on impeaching Trump following his remarks, which were first reported by the Washington Post on Thursday.
In a statement, the White House did not deny Trump’s “shithole” comments.
But Friday morning, Trump denied saying “anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country” and said that while he used “tough language” in the meeting with lawmakers, “this was not the language used.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who was present in the meeting with Trump, said the president’s denials were “not true” because Trump “said these hate-filled things, and he said them repeatedly.”
Trump’s comments drew backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, media figures and foreign governments, many of whom accused Trump of racist behavior.