The White House has denied a New
York Times report that quoted President Donald Trump demeaning
immigrants.
The Times reported that,
according to two unnamed sources, Trump told top administration
officials in June that Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS,” that
recent Nigerian immigrants would never “go back to their huts” in
Africa and that Afghanistan is a haven for terrorists.
White House press secretary Sarah
Sanders denied the reporting in a 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,” Sanders said.
According to the Times, Trump
made the comments during an Oval Office meeting that included
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, then-Homeland Security Secretary
John Kelly, White House adviser Stephen Miller and other senior
officials. Miller reportedly provided Trump with U.S. immigration
statistics for 2017.
The Times said that it
interviewed more than three dozen people for the story. The paper
also said that several participants told them that they “did not
recall” Trump using those words.