On Friday morning the president said on Twitter that he used tough language during the meeting. In another tweet, denied saying anything derogatory about Haitians.
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Senator Dick Durbin, who was present at the meeting, went on record to confirm reports of Trump's comments saying, "He said these hateful things, and he said them repeatedly.
Henrik Heldahl, a commentator for the Norwegian political website Amerikansk Politikk, told the Associated Press that the sentiment would have been more welcomed if Trump used less coarse language for Haiti and African countries. He said it could have been a nice send off for Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who visited the White House on Wednesday, "but the way he said it guarantees that the reaction here will be very negative."
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"This says a lot about what Trump thinks it means to be an American," said Hilde Restad, an associate professor in international affairs in Norway and a former U.S. resident. "It is more about ethnicity than shared values."
She added that Norwegians generally didn't want "to be flattered by this U.S. president in this way."
People on Twitter were quick to condemn the president's remarks while pointing out Norwegians may not want to come to the United States. Norway was chosen as the happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report 2017.
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