What Haley said to African colleagues about Trump's s---hole remark

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley stressed to African ambassadors at the United Nations that their continent is “very important for the United States” in remarks last week. But she but did not apologize for reported comments from President Donald Trump that labeled their homelands “s---hole countries.”

Haley spoke to a closed meeting Thursday to the 54-member Africa Group at the United Nations. The bloc had demanded an apology for Trump’s “outrageous, racist and xenophobic remarks,” but Haley’s remarks did not go that far.

Ambassador Anatolio Ndong Mba of Equatorial Guinea, who chairs the group, told reporters afterward that Haley instead expressed “regret” for the controversy in what he described as a “very friendly” and “very frank” meeting.

Haley told the ambassadors “she was not there at the White House, she is not sure what was said, but she regretted ... this situation that has been created,” Ndong Mba said, according to Agence France Presse.

The group reportedly recommended Haley ask Trump to send a message of goodwill to an upcoming meeting of African leaders in the Ethopian capital of Addis Ababa. Ndong Mba said, “We do hope that that (apology) will come.”

Haley later tweeted her thanks to the Africa Group, saying they had “discussed our long relationship and history of combating HIV, fighting terrorism and committing to peace throughout the region.” She did not reference the president’s controversial remarks.

Trump was criticized roundly for saying the United States should not accept immigrants from “s---ole countries” during an Oval Office meeting, according to senators who attended the meeting, specifically referencing Africa, Haiti and El Salvador.

Trump later said he had not used that language.

This story was originally published January 22, 2018 at 2:41 PM with the headline "What Haley said to African colleagues about Trump's s---hole remark."