US President Donald Trump is pushing back against reports that he made derogatory comments about Haiti, El Salvador and African countries in a meeting on immigration at the White House.
But a Democrat Senator...who was in the Oval Office during that meeting...says the President did make what he called "hate-filled" statements.
From Washington, our correspondent Harry Horton reports on a global backlash against the US leader.
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On Friday President Trump signed a proclamation honouring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
But this most divisive of presidents couldn't escape a barrage of questions from reporters about whether he made derogatory comments about African countries.
UPSOT Reporter off-cam: "Mr President, are you a racist?"
Donald Trump did not respond.
Online, he spent the morning denying the use he'd used a specific vulgar term.
but Democrat Senator Dick Durbin publicly challenged his version of events:
SOT Dick Durbin
"You've seen the comments in the press. I have not read one of them that's inaccurate. To no surprise the president started tweeting this morning denying that he used those words. It is not true. He said these hate-filled things. And he said them repeatedly."
Meanwhile out on the streets of the US capital, there was almost universal condemnation of the president's alleged language:
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"It's deeply racist, it's divisive and it's not presidential"
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"I'm sure that he probably regrets that he said those things but at the same time the world now knows how he really feels, and maybe that's a good thing."
This is not the first time President Trump has faced similar accusations, and his critics say that history of controversial comments on race can have real-life consequences
Here's Omolola Adele-Oso, Executive Director, Act4Accountability
"I had an incident just after the election - I was walking down the street and I had two men behind me telling me, 'go back to your country.' I turned around and I said, 'this is my country! What are you talking about?' And they said, 'you N-word, you don't belong here."
There are Trump supporters who refuse to condemn their president
One high-profile Republican commentator summed up how many people amongst his base view these comments, saying, the President is just "calling it like it is."
But to Donald Trump's critics around the world - the events of the past few days confirm a long held suspiscion - that at best he is ignorant about race, and at worst, the president of the united states is a racist.
Harry Horton, Washington
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