Trump says he has 'wonderful relationship with Haitians.' Haiti calls him 'racist.'

On Friday morning, President Trump awoke to swirling reports publicizing vulgar language he allegedly used to disparage foreign nations during a bipartisan meeting on immigration. The meeting took place Thursday afternoon, but Trump waited more than 12 hours to address the reports that he'd referred to Haiti and various African states as "shithole countries" — and when he finally did, he denied making any such remarks.

Moreover, Trump claimed: "I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians."

It seems the Haitian government does not agree with Trump's sunshine-and-rainbows claims, however. On Friday morning, Haiti issued a statement calling Trump's comment "racist" and stated the president's language "in no way [reflects] the virtues of wisdom, restraint, and discernment that must be cultivated by any high political authority."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

CNN's Jake Tapper pointed out Friday morning that, per a source "familiar with the meeting," Trump only referred to African countries as "shithole countries" and was not including Haiti in this description. So the president's denial that he insulted the island nation may be correct on a technicality — but still, Tapper reminded, "this does not make what [Trump] said any more acceptable."