Several sources inside a bi-partisan meeting with Donald Trump Thursday confirm he said, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” He was apparently referring to nations like El Salvador and Haiti and the entire continent of Africa.

There are also reports from inside the meeting that he said, “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.” On Thursday night the White House didn’t deny the comments. Now, this morning comes the denial.

This morning Senator Richard Durbin (D-Il.) who was in the meeting confirmed Trump used the language:

“The president started tweeting this morning, denying that he used those words. It is not true. He said these hate-filled things, and he said them repeatedly… I cannot believe that in the history of the White House — in that Oval Office — any president has spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday.”

But Trump trying to soften the blow of a racist gut punch won’t work for some members of Congress.  Take Representative Mia Love from Utah.  She is a Republican and the first Haitian-American elected to Congress. Here’s her statement.”

https://twitter.com/RepMiaLove/status/951603160254238720

Another Republican, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American, also took a big stand against Trump last night.

Some of Trump’s former presidential competitors are also weighing in.

So far it’s crickets from Republican leaders Mitchell McConnell and Paul Ryan.

Meanwhile, what’s lost in all this is the story once again become about Donald Trump and not the hundreds of thousands of “Dreamers” who are hanging on every word that comes out of Washington.  Yesterday began with optimism as a bi-partisan group of Senators thought they had a deal that would allow “Dreamers” to stay in the United States and eventually apply for citizenship.  Trump shot that down at a meeting with the Senators where his “shithole” reference instead became the story.