{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-trumps-2018-racist-reference-to-s-hole-countries-was-an-embarrassment", "Durbin: Trump\u2019s 2018 Racist Reference To \u201cS-Hole\u201d Countries Was An Embarrassment", "2025-12-10", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "IL", "Richard J. Durbin", "D000563", "www.durbin.senate.gov", "durbin", "https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "After nearly eight years, Trump admitted to using the slur \u201cshithole countries\u201d to denigrate Black immigrants during a meeting in the Oval Office, confirming Durbin\u2019s statement from that time\n\nWASHINGTON \u2013 In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke about President Donald Trump finally admitting that he used the slur \u201cshithole countries\u201d to denigrate Haiti and African nations during a 2018 meeting in the Oval Office that Durbin attended. Trump admitted to this comment during his rally in Pennsylvania last night. Following the 2018 meeting, Durbin was criticized by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and then-Senator David Perdue (R-GA), as well as President Trump himself, for corroborating media reports of Trump\u2019s \u201cshithole countries\u201d comment, with Trump claiming Durbin \u201ctotally misrepresented\u201d what he had said.\n\n\u201cThe meeting was historic\u2026 The President spoke at length about his views on immigration. The conversation declined at some point to a level I\u2019d never expected to witness in my life. The President started saying things about immigrants in ways I thought had never been said before in the White House,\u201d Durbin said. \u201cHe used terminology, which I will not repeat on the Senate floor, but he referred to a phrase of \u2018s-hole\u2019 nations. I was shocked to hear it. I heard him refer to several countries in this fashion. And I thought to myself, how have we reached a point where we discuss immigration in such crude and vulgar terms. After I left the White House, it leaked out what the President had said, and the White House denied it. They said it didn\u2019t happen. I said it did, they said I\u2019m lying to the point where two of my Republican Senate colleagues went on television several days later and said that I lied when the President made those statements. Well yesterday at his rally in Pennsylvania, President Trump admitted that he used the slur that I referred to earlier to disparage Haiti and African nations during that 2018 meeting with lawmakers, bragging about a comment that sparked global outrage during his first term.\u201d\n\nDurbin continued, \u201cFor [nearly eight] years, I have lived with the shadow of people saying that I misled the American people as to what the President said. Yesterday, he admitted what he said\u2026 We have to get beyond crudity and vulgarity and what we\u2019ve seen in the extreme in the last several months when it comes to immigration.\u201d\n\nDurbin concluded, \u201cWe are a nation of immigrants, and I\u2019m proud of that fact\u2026 The reference in 2018 was an embarrassment\u2014an embarrassment to the White House, to the Oval Office, and to the presidency. I\u2019m glad that the President has finally admitted what happened on that day.\u201d\n\nVideo of Durbin\u2019s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.\n\nAudio of Durbin\u2019s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.\n\nFootage of Durbin\u2019s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-trumps-2018-racist-reference-to-s-hole-countries-was-an-embarrassment"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1046258732676506, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}