WASHINGTON _ The head of the Homeland Security Department denied that President Donald Trump referred to some countries as "shitholes" during a White House meeting about immigration _ though she didn't dispute that Trump used vulgar language.
"The conversation was very impassioned," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I don't dispute that the president was using tough language. Others in the room were also using tough language."
"I did not hear that word used, no sir," Nielsen said, responding to a question from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. She didn't specify what Trump did say. Nielsen is the only Cabinet member who was in the room.
Pressed about Trump's expressed preference during the meeting for immigrants from Norway, Nielsen also said she couldn't be sure that the country's population is mostly white.
"Norway is a predominantly white country, isn't it?" Leahy asked.
"I actually do not know that, sir, but I imagine that's the case," she said.
Reports last week said that Trump said he wanted fewer immigrants from "shithole countries" in Africa and more from places like Norway. Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., confirmed Trump's statements after the first reports.
Pressed by Durbin on Tuesday, Nielsen said she did not "specifically remember the categorization of countries in Africa."
"Do you remember him saying, 'I want more Europeans; why can't we have more immigrants from Norway?'" he asked.
Nielsen said she remembered Trump calling immigrants from Norway hard-working.
The White House did not deny that Trump made the comment after reports on the meeting surfaced last week. Over the weekend, the president and some Republican senators have disputed it. Some White House aides have said Trump actually used the word "shithouse."
Trump's language has further inflamed the debate on how to address immigration and a deal on the DACA program, which provides protections from deportation.
