January 16, 2018

Under questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the new DHS Sec still played the sudden memory loss game when asked to recount Trump's "shithole' comment during Thursday's immigration meeting, but she also didn't deny it either.

Actually she confirmed it.

Sen. Dick Durbin questioned Kirstjen Nielsen and immediately focused on what Trump actually said during the meeting on January 11th.

The Senator asked her she "remembered" Trump said about "about immigration from African countries to the United States?"

She responded with the bogus "merit-based" jargon that the White House came up with.

Sen. Durbin, "How did he characterize those countries in Africa?

Sec. Nielsen replied, "I don't specifically remember a categorization of countries in Africa."

And this is our new leader at Homeland Security? She can't remember a racist comment the president said from a meeting less than a week ago?

OK, any rational person would tell us she's obviously been instructed to lie.

She continued, stating Trump was really expressing an opinion that we should only bring in immigrants that we know will be our new CEOs, instead of focusing on people from poor countries.

Sen. Durbin pressed, "Do you remember the president saying expressly, 'I want more Europeans? Why can't we have more immigrants from Norway?"

She rephrased it by responding, "I do remember him asking about the concept of underrepresented countries as a fix."

She continued playing the merit-based immigration game, which is, let's face it, racist itself.

Sec. Nielsen continued, "So from that perspective, I think he did ask, would that cover European countries or by its nature, would that mean that we are further establishing immigration to purposefully exclude Europeans?"

Those poor white, educated Europeans are being mistreated in a reverse racist ideal by the U.S.?

Durbin, "What did the Norway?"

This is pretty funny.

Nielsen said, "I heard him repeating what he had learned at a meeting before, that they are industrious, a hard-working country, they don't have much crime there or debt. In general, I heard him giving compliments to Norway."

Trump just heard about what a strong nation Norway is? I actually almost believe that.

It's so odd that the DHS secretary can remember so much about what took place in the meeting and the debate between Norway, Europe and African countries, but can't remember Trump calling them "shitholes."

However, it's during the next section of Durbin's questioning that Sec. Nielsen softly confirms his account and Trump's behavior towards black nations.

Sen. Durbin turned to her Fox News comments from Sunday about the "strong language" Trump used.

Again her memory seemed to fail her.

Sec. Nielsen replied, "Let's see, strong language, there was -- apologies. I don't remember specific word. What I was struck with, frankly, as I'm sure you were, as well, was just the general profanity that was used in the room by almost everyone."

Using profanity doesn't equate to using racist language. Sen. Graham could have called Trump a "mother-f**ker" or a "f**king asshole" in the meeting, but that's not racist.

Sen. Durbin tried to pin her down and asked if he used profanity which she said he didn't. She said Sen. Graham used tough words, but she refused to recount those words except to say "strong language."

Durbin, "Do you recall that the 'strong language' he used repeated exactly what the president had said prior to that?"

Sec. Nielsen, "I remember specific cuss words being used by a variety of members."

Wait, she does remember specific cuss words, not just any by Trump.

Durbin replied, "I'm not going to ask you to say those words here. but I will just say for the record, Senator Graham spoke up in a way that I respect very much, countering what the president had said about countries in Africa. reminding the president that his family did not come to America with great skills or wealth, but they came here, as most families do, looking for a chance to prove themselves and make this a better nation."

"In a defense of Senator Graham', his strong words repeated exactly the words used by the president, which you cannot remember."

And here is where Sec. Nielsen gives a soft admission that what Sen. Durbin and Sen Graham said about the immigration meeting in question is true and the word Trump used was "shithole."

Sec. Nielsen said, "If I could, sir, I do want to say that I greatly appreciate not only Senator Graham's leadership but yours, as well. I know you're passionate about this."

"Afterwards, I approached you and asked that I'm happy to talk to you any time to try to work on this deal. I do think that Senator Graham, very passionately described what he believes America is about and what we should move toward," she said.

Sec. Nielsen did not say Sen. Durbin mischaracterized or was mistaken about what Trump said, only that she admires his commitment and Graham's to get an immigration deal done.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon