Trump denies making "shithole countries" remarks

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday denied describing certain nations as "shithole countries", after triggering international outrage for reportedly making such remarks.

On Thursday, he had reportedly lashed out at immigrants from certain countries as he questioned during talks with lawmakers why the United States should accept more immigrants from Haiti and "shithole countries".

In a series of tweets on Friday morning, Trump said the language used by him at the meeting was "tough, but this was not the language used," stressing that he "never said anything derogatory about Haitians."

He said "what was really tough was the outlandish proposal made," describing it as "a big setback" for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that shields from deportation nearly 800,000 immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.

"Probably should record future meetings - unfortunately, no trust!" he said.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who was present at the meeting, told MSNBC on Friday that Trump had used the slur to describe those countries. Enditem