the state senator told him what dick durbin said about the president was basically accurate. today lindsey graham told south carolina s post, quote, my memory hasn t evolved. i know what was said and i know what i said. here s the president last night denying he said what dick durbin and lindsey graham now say he said. did you see what various senators in the room said about my comment? no, i m not a racist. i am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. that i can tell you. that i can tell you. with the nod. that i can tell you. that is one of donald trump s many tells. whenever he says, that i can tell you, he is lying. believe me is another one of his
south carolina s newspaper that my memory hasn t evolved. i know what was said and i know what i said. well, senator durbin stands by his account of what happened, saying today he is stunned by the republican defense of trump. i know what happened. i stand behind every word that i said. i stick with my original interpretation. i am stunned that this is their defense. that is that s their choice. what the president said in that meeting was so awful and so impactful on so many people that when he denied saying it, i felt duty-bound to clarify what actually happened. i m joined right now by democratic congressman karen bass from california, david jolly is a former republican congressman from florida. ruth marcus is deputy editorial page editor of the washington post. thank you, all. in that order, congresswoman, this is interesting because lindsey graham apparently stood up to trump. right. and said you can t use that kind of a term.
the president repeated spoon-fed lies that, that the two senators said in defense of him and then stand by him when he said, i am not a racist. that s remaining silent in the face of some pretty bad actions. and so knowing kevin i m really disappointed. lindsey graham, though, is still believes that a deal on immigration can be hammered out. and his told people close to him that he s not going to come out blasting the president. he made sure that we all knew, that what the president said was wrong. that it was racist. he let, he let people know that, that he chastened the president in that room. good for him. and he has, he s swiped at cotton and perdue, by saying, my
some time over the weekend to think about the best path forward from here, to think about how he can avoid making this episode even more damaging to these negotiations moving forward, and the way he decided to do that is by declining to explicitly confirm these comments but to say, you know, that my memory hasn t evolved, clearly a pointed job at senators cotton and perdue over this. but he is very careful not to cross a line and not to reach a point of no return, to balance his frustration with what he said was a very different donald trump on thursday than what we had seen two days earlier in that televised bipartisan meeting. he doesn t want to upset the relationship that he s built for several months now. he s courted the president on the golf course. this was really what it was all
to these negotiations moving forward. and the way he decided to do that is by declining to explicitly confirm these comments, but to say, you know, that my memory hasn t evolved. clearly a pointed jab at senators cotton and purdue over this. but he is very careful not to cross the line and not to reach a point of no return, to balance his frustration with what he said was a very different donald trump on thursday than what we had seen two days earlier in that televised bipartisan meeting. he doesn t want to upset the relationship that he s built for several months now. he s courted the president on the golf course. you know, this was really what it was all about, and he doesn t want to let all of that effort go to waste just over, you know, one comment that he found clearly very upsetting. at one point he tweeted out all but an endorsement of a trump golf property if memory