Former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday denounced President Trump for allegedly calling Haiti, El Salvador and African nations “s—-hole countries.”
“It’s not how a president should speak,” Mr. Biden tweeted. “It’s not how a president should behave. Most of all, it’s not what a president should believe. We’re better than this.”
The Washington Post reported that Mr. Trump made the offending comments to lawmakers during an Oval Office meeting Thursday to discuss a bipartisan immigration deal.
“Why are we having all these people from s—-hole countries come here?” Mr. Trump said, according to several people briefed on the meeting, The Post reported.
He also reportedly suggested that the U.S. should be taking in more immigrants from Asia or developed countries like Norway who could help the country economically.
After receiving considerable backlash for the alleged comments, the president wrote on Twitter Friday morning that while he indeed used “tough” language during the meeting, he didn’t use the language as reported.
Mr. Trump also repeated his call for a merit-based immigration system.
