Trump tells donors he only wants immigrants from ‘beautiful’ countries

Former President Donald Trump told donors at a fundraiser this weekend that he wanted immigrants from “beautiful” countries “like Denmark” to travel to the United States and promised to extend his controversial tax cuts for wealthy Americans when he takes office in White House later this year House is chosen. year.

The New York Times first reported this Trump’s comments about immigrants at his high-dollar fundraiser in Palm Beach, Florida, this weekend. Speaking to guests at a mansion owned by a billionaire financier, Trump appeared to defend his controversial 2018 comments in which he called certain countries — including Haiti and some in Africa — “shithole countries.”

“And when I said, why can’t we allow people from nice countries to come in, I was trying to be nice,” Trump told donors, the Times reported. “Beautiful countries, you know, like Denmark, Switzerland? Do people come from Denmark? What about Switzerland? What about Norway?”

“And you know, they thought that was a really terrible comment, but I was fine with it.”

The comments reflect his long-standing anti-immigration rhetoric as he seeks a second term after his 2020 defeat. The former president also railed Saturday against migrants entering the US along the southern border with Mexico, claiming that people’ came out of jails and prisons’. .”

“They have been shipped, brought in, deposited in our country, and they are with us tonight,” Trump told guests, according to the Times.

The Trump campaign said it raised more than $50 million during the event, although the official figure will not be made public in campaign finance reports for a while.

The former president also talked about his signature 2017 tax cuts heavily titled towards wealthy Americans and companies. Most provisions are set to expire in 2025, including a controversial deduction for so-called pass-through businesses (such as partnerships), but Trump told his supporters he planned to expand those benefits if he were elected to another term.

“Trump spoke about the need to win back the White House so we can change our country, focusing on key issues including unleashing energy production, securing our southern border, reducing inflation, extending of the Trump tax cuts and eliminating the insane Joe Biden. [electric vehicle] mandate, protecting Israel and avoiding global war,” according to an official account of the event shared with reporters.

The comments prompted a swift rebuke from President Joe Biden’s campaign, which criticized Trump for telling “his rich friends” he would give them tax cuts “while he thinks the cameras aren’t on.”

Trump’s massive fundraising comes as the presumptive Republican nominee looks to close the war chest gap with Biden. The president raised more than $90 million in March, including $192 million in the bank, much more than his predecessor.

Trump has sent some of his fundraising dollars to a PAC that he has used largely to pay his legal bills.