Democratic senator says Homeland Security secretary is ‘complicit’ after she says she ‘did not hear’ president use the term

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Democrats accused Republicans of selective amnesia on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, testified under oath that she “did not hear” Trump use the term “shithole” to describe African countries.

New Jersey senator Cory Booker angrily criticized Nielsen’s comments, telling her: “Your silence and your amnesia is complicity.”

“It was a meeting of 12 people. There was cross-talk,” she had explained at a congressional hearing, but she didn’t “dispute the president was using tough language”.

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Under persistent questioning, Nielsen said she didn’t recall the specific language used by Trump.

“What I was struck with frankly, as I’m sure you were as well, was just the general profanity used in the room by almost everyone.”

Nielsen’s comments came five days after the president ignited what the Republican senator Lindsey Graham termed an “s-storm” with his Oval Office remarks.



The White House has not substantively disputed accounts of the episode, in which Trump is said to have used “shithole” to describe African countries of origin for potential immigrants to the US.

The revelations, semi-denials and continuing comments have cast a pall over the White House’s legislative agenda, brought the country closer to the brink of a government shutdown and sparked international outrage.

And with the midterm elections approaching, there are fresh fears among Republicans who were already anxious over the political climate going into November and over Trump’s unpredictable actions.

Administration officials and lawmakers spent the holiday weekend debating the precise presidential vulgarity used, and moved to cast last Thursday’s White House meeting as a salty affair, with expletives flying in all directions.

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The White House said Trump had no intention of apologizing.

“The president hasn’t said he didn’t use strong language, and this is an important issue,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said.

“He’s passionate about it, he’s not going to apologize for trying to fix our immigration system.”

There is internal debate in the West Wing over whether Trump said “shithole” or “shithouse”.

One person who attended the meeting told aides they heard the latter expletive, while others recalled the president saying the more widely reported “shithole”, according to a person briefed on the meeting but not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

Trump has not clarified to aides what he said, but told reporters Sunday night in Florida that comments attributed to him “weren’t made”.