The New York Times published an explosive article Friday claiming the president made inflammatory comments about certain immigrant groups. But now the White House is pushing back.
The report is based on interviews with more than 36 sources, who claim that the president was infuriated during a meeting in June where he received U.S. immigration statistics.
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President Trump reportedly commented on the number of Haitians entering the country, saying that they “all have AIDS,” and about the Nigerian immigrants, they’d “never go back to their huts” after seeing the United States.
The White House was quick to deny the report, saying that the quotes were simply fabricated by The New York Times. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House Press Secretary, issued an official statement.
“General Kelly, General McMaster, Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Nielsen, and all other senior staff actually in the meeting deny these outrageous claims and it’s both sad and telling the New York Times would print the lies of their anonymous ‘sources’ anyway,” she said.
Michael Shear, one of the reporters who worked on the article, appeared on CNN today to stand by their findings.
The Times even included a brief paragraph at the end of their article explaining how the interviews were conducted, in order to prepare for the inevitable accusations that they were framing rumors as facts.
President Trump has yet to comment on the article via his Twitter.
Border security and immigration were a big part of his platform as a candidate, but many of his attempts to control people entering the country have been stopped by court rulings.
