White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wants to know why NBC forged an extended relationship with President Trump if he’s the “racist” critics claim.
The infamous (but disputed) “sh—hole” immigration comments attributed to Mr. Trump were raised again by reporters on Tuesday, but Mrs. Huckabee Sanders did not shy away from the debate. She asked a gaggle of journalists outside the White House why NBC promoted the hit shows like “The Apprentice” and “The Celebrity Apprentice” for years if claims about her boss’ character were true.
“[If Mr. Trump is racist] why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV?” she asked. “Why did Chuck Schumer and all of his colleagues come and beg Donald Trump for money? Why did they want to be with him for years and years in various activities, whether it was events or fundraisers and other things?”
Mr. Trump was a fixture of NBC’s hit reality series for 14 years before running for president. Politicians of all stripes also came to the real estate mogul with financial requests.
Critics of the president — particularly Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin — claim that Mr. Trump’s back-room comments about Haiti and other nations signal an inner racial animus.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a Senate committee Tuesday that she did not hear the president refer to “sh—hole” nations during his exchanges with Mr. Durbin and others last week.
“The conversation was very impassioned,” she told Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. “I don’t dispute that the president was using tough language. Others in the room were also using tough language. The concept and the context I believe in which this came up was a concept that the president would like to move a to a merit-based [immigration] system.”
“Did he use what would be considered vulgar language referring to certain countries?” the Democrat asked.
The president used tough language in general as did other congressmen in the room,” Ms. Nielsen replied.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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