During a MSNBC panel discussion over comments President Donald Trump reportedly made about Haitian and Nigerian immigrants, conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin claimed she had no doubt Trump slurred the immigrants, bluntly stating, "This is who the president of the United States is."
The Trump White House has pushed back at the New York Times report claiming an angry Trump blurted Haitian immigrants "all have AIDS," and Nigerians would never return to "their huts" after visiting the U.S.
According to Rubin, Trump's reported comments sound exactly like something he would say.
"You have a president who is an irrational figure, who is motivated by personal pique, by angers, by resentment and by prejudice," Rubin told MSNBC host David Gura. "A couple of things are interesting. They put out [White House adviser] Mark Short who was not in the meeting [to deny the comments]. It's an interesting ploy when you don't want to have someone go out there who will directly lie to the press."
"I wasn't in there and the people there deny it, so why don't we talk to some of the people who were in the meeting?" Rubin asked. "Frankly, if you ask President Trump directly, he'd probably confirm some of these. He has no shame and he either doesn't understand or doesn't care if he's perceived as being a racist. This is what he believes."
"I think we have to abandon the pretexts that everything is a miscommunication, everything is a misunderstanding, everything is wrong reporting," she insisted. "No. This is who the president of the United States is."
Rubin then took a shot a Short's comments, saying some the immigrants who have been in the U.S. for years need to return to their countries.
"I would say one thing about that policy. Mark Short has it exactly backwards," she lectured. "These people have been here for years. They've had children, they've lived productive lives, they've put down roots in the community. Why, for goodness sakes, would we want to send these people back?"
You can watch the video below via MSNBC:
