Republican says government shutdown is Durbin's fault for throwing 'a hand grenade' by confirming Trump's racism

In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer focused on the impending government shutdown over the across-aisle dispute about DACA, one Republican senator tried to blame Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) for the looming bipartisan failure.

Durbin, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) noted, was one of the people at the meeting to corroborate first-hand President Donald Trump's comment that immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and nations on the African continent come from "sh*thole countries."

"Why would Dick Durbin leave that White house meeting behind closed doors and throw a hand grenade in those negotiations, if he actually was serious about fixing this problem?" Johnson asked semi-rhetorically. 

"This was a private meeting," the senator continued. "I think there would be an expectation that what was said behind closed doors in a passionate discussion would stay behind closed doors."

Johnson then echoed White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who claimed that if the government shuts down over DACA, it will be on the backs of Democrats — despite Republicans controlling both houses of Congress and the White House.

Blitzer, however, was not having it.

"Just wanna be precise — I don't know who originally leaked what the president said, using that vile and vulgar word about Africans, African immigrants coming to the United States," the host noted, "but it was first reported from multiple anonymous sources in The Washington Post, then multiple news organizations confirmed it."

"It was only a day or two later that confirmed it," Blitzer continued.

Watch below, via CNN: