TONIGHT: After Trump's sh*thole comments and a tweet attacking "Senator Dicky Durbin," #LSSC asks #WhatTheChuck?! @SenSchumer addresses the controversy and defends his fellow Democrat. pic.twitter.com/7SbDo9TTQS
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) January 16, 2018
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday evening that he “totally believe[s]” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in Durbin’s dispute with President Trump over if Trump referred to certain nations as “shithole countries” last week.
“We know about what historians will call ‘s-hole gate’ from last Thursday,” Stephen Colbert said on CBS’s “The Late Show.”
“Just a little while ago … [Trump] tweeted, ‘Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what I said at the DACA meeting,’ ” Colbert read, impersonating Trump.{mosads}
“Do you have any doubts that Sen. Durbin is telling the truth when he says that the president said, repeatedly, that, ‘why do we let in people from these shithole countries?’ ” Colbert asked.
“I have no doubts,” Schumer replied. “First, Donald Trump has lied so many times, it’s hard to believe him on anything, let alone this.”
“But second, I’ve known Dick Durbin for 35 years, he was my roommate for 20 years … he is one of the most honorable people I’ve met. I have never know him to prevaricate, to lie,” he said.
“I totally believe Dick Durbin, and I think most Americans do, too.”
The Illinois Democrat had confirmed to reporters that Trump called Haiti, El Salvador and African nations “shithole countries” during an Oval Office meeting on immigration.
He doubled down on that confirmation earlier Monday and also called on the White House to release any tapes it might have of the meeting.
GOP Sens. David Perdue (Ga.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.), however, have said that the president didn’t make the comments, despite initially saying they didn’t recall if he did.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who also attended the meeting, reportedly told his South Carolina colleague Sen. Tim Scott (R) that Trump did indeed use the phrase.