Trump Haiti El Salvador Africa comments: Politicians pundits react
President Trump  grew frustrated during recent immigration discussions in the Oval Office and  according to The Washington Post  asked lawmakers  "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?"
Trump's comment was referring to immigrants from Haiti  El Salvador and African countries  the Post reported  and he then suggested the U.S. try to increase immigration from countries like Norway.
More: Report:  Trump  uses crude term while attacking protections for immigrants
The White House did not deny Thursday that  the president  used the phrase  and the comments drew sharp criticism from U.S. politicians and pundits who called the remarks racist  among other things.
Rep. Mia Love  R-Utah  the daughter of Haitian immigrants  called  Trump 's words "divisive" and "elitist" and demanded he apologize to Americans and citizens from the countries "he so wantonly maligned."
Democrats quickly decried the comments  too. Sen. Richard Blumenthal  D-Conn.  called the words "blatant racism" and "a brazen betrayal of American values. "
President Trumpâs  remarks smack of blatant racism â odious and insidious racism masquerading poorly as immigration policy.  He  does not speak for  me  as an American. â Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) January 11  2018
Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez simply tweeted  "My parents came from one of those countries." Sen. Cory Booker  D-N.J.  added that  Trump  "does not speak for America."
Former CIA Director John Brennan  who was appointed by former president Barack Obama  said  Trump  "demonstrates daily that he is a deeply flawed person" when sharing the Post's article. Without addressing the issue directly  former FBI Director James Comey  who  Trump  fired in May  said "This countryâs greatness and true genius lies in its diversity."
American Civil Liberties Union's immigration policy director Lorella Praeli said in a statement the remarks show that " Trump  has been consistently honest about the white nationalism behind  his  immigration policies " and the National Immigration Law Center called it "repugnant" in a tweet.
Republican political pundits also jumped on the comments  with some defending  Trump .
"This is how the forgotten men and women in America talk in the bar." Fox News host Jesse Watters said. "This is how  Trump  relates to people."
Fellow Fox host Tucker Carlson suggested El Salvador may be a "shithole " and conservative commentator Ann Coulter approved of  Trump 's remark  saying " he 's trying to win me back."
However  former adviser to Jeb Bush's presidential campaign Michael Steel told Meet the Press it was a "borderline racist  stupid comment." MSNBC host Chris Matthews thought the comments showed  Trump  is "unfit for office."
If  @realDonaldTrump  is trying to play down the idea that  he 's unfit for office  it's not working. https://t.co/Fry4vzHuuS â Chris Matthews (@HardballChris) January 11  2018
CNN host Don Lemon called  Trump  racist on  his  show Thursday  and added "A lot of us already knew that."
[TGT] grew frustrated during recent immigration discussions in the Oval Office and  according to The Washington Post  asked lawmakers  "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?"
 [TGT] 's comment was referring to immigrants from Haiti  El Salvador and African countries  the Post reported  and he then suggested the U.S. try to increase immigration from countries like Norway.
More: Report:   [TGT]   uses crude term while attacking protections for immigrants
The White House did not deny Thursday that   [TGT] used the phrase  and the comments drew sharp criticism from U.S. politicians and pundits who called the remarks racist  among other things.
Rep. Mia Love  R-Utah  the daughter of Haitian immigrants  called   [TGT]  's words "divisive" and "elitist" and demanded  [TGT]  apologize to Americans and citizens from the countries " [TGT]  so wantonly maligned."
Democrats quickly decried the comments  too. Sen. Richard Blumenthal  D-Conn.  called the words "blatant racism" and "a brazen betrayal of American values. "
 [TGT] remarks smack of blatant racism â odious and insidious racism masquerading poorly as immigration policy.   [TGT]   does not speak for  me  as an American. â Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) January 11  2018
Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez simply tweeted  "My parents came from one of those countries." Sen. Cory Booker  D-N.J.  added that   [TGT] "does not speak for America."
Former CIA Director John Brennan  who was appointed by former president Barack Obama  said   [TGT]   "demonstrates daily that  [TGT]  is a deeply flawed person" when sharing the Post's article. Without addressing the issue directly  former FBI Director James Comey  who   [TGT] fired in May  said "This countryâs greatness and true genius lies in its diversity."
American Civil Liberties Union's immigration policy director Lorella Praeli said in a statement the remarks show that "  [TGT] has been consistently honest about the white nationalism behind   [TGT]   immigration policies " and the National Immigration Law Center called it "repugnant" in a tweet.
Republican political pundits also jumped on the comments  with some defending  Trump .
"This is how the forgotten men and women in America talk in the bar." Fox News host Jesse Watters said. "This is how   [TGT] relates to people."
Fellow Fox host Tucker Carlson suggested El Salvador may be a "shithole " and conservative commentator Ann Coulter approved of  Trump 's remark  saying " he 's trying to win me back."
However  former adviser to Jeb Bush's presidential campaign Michael Steel told Meet the Press it was a "borderline racist  stupid comment." MSNBC host Chris Matthews thought the comments showed   [TGT] is "unfit for office."
If  [TGT] is trying to play down the idea that   [TGT]  's unfit for office  it's not working. https://t.co/Fry4vzHuuS â Chris Matthews (@HardballChris) January 11  2018
CNN host Don Lemon called   [TGT]   racist on   [TGT]   show Thursday  and added "A lot of us already knew that."