Sen. Lindsey Graham claims he responded to President Trump during last week’s meeting on immigration when the president questioned why more immigrants weren’t coming to America from a country like Norway.
“The conversation was going down the wrong road, I thought,” the South Carolina Republican told the New York Times. He was one of the senators present at the bipartisan get-together.
“Here’s how I started,” he added, “I said, ‘If you’re from Norway, Mr. President, you’re a Norwegian. But if you’re from America what are you? It’s not an ethnic group, it’s not a religion — it’s an ideal. You can’t tell Americans by the way they look. People from all over the world want to be part of this ideal. And that diversity is our strength not our weakness.’”
During the same meeting the president reportedly lamented immigration from countries like Haiti and referred to some African nations as “shithole countries.”
The president has denied the statement, but lawmakers present have offered varying accounts on what he said.
Graham took a swipe at fellow Republican senators David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas on Monday over their denial that Trump made the disparaging comment.
“My memory hasn’t evolved,” Graham told the Post and Courier. “I know what was said, and I know what I said.”
Some sources knowledgeable on the meeting have also indicated that Trump may have spoken the word “shithouse” — a term he likes to use while discussing unappealing structures, according to the New York Times.
