Sen. Lindsey Graham refused to say Thursday whether President Donald Trump used a vulgar term to describe certain nations in an immigration meeting last week, but declared the commander-in-chief was "absolutely not" a racist.
"I told him what I thought — and that's more important to me than anything else," the South Carolina Republican told CNN's Dana Bash in an interview to be broadcast Sunday.
He told Bash he would not discuss what happened in last Thursday's White House meeting — where Trump reportedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations as "s***hole countries" — because "I want to make sure that I can keep talking to the president."
Graham said last Friday "I said my piece directly" to Trump after the reported comments were made, while Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois slammed the president for "repeatedly" using the derogatory term.
But Graham made clear to Bash Thursday that President Donald Trump was not a racist.
"Absolutely not," he said. "You could be dark as charcoal or lily white, it doesn't matter if you be nice to him.
"You can be the Pope and criticize him. Doesn't matter. He'll criticize him.
"Can be Putin," he added referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Say nice things, he'll like you.
"He's a street fighter.
"It's not the color of the skin," Graham explained. "It’s not the content of your character.
"It's whether or not you show him respect and like him.
"If he feels like you're out of script, don't like him, he punches back," the senator said.
Graham's advice to President Trump: "The street fight's over. We need a leader.
"You got here by being a street fighter," he told Bash. "You beat me and everybody else.
"Mr. President, you have the ability to bring the country together."
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