Donald Trump mistook a racially mixed group of Democratic staffers for domestic aides and asked them to serve the hors d’oeuvres, according to a new book.
The recently sworn-in president turned to the staffers for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and others during a January 2017 meeting and asked them to get the canapes, according to excerpts from a forthcoming book from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman published by Rolling Stone.
"Why don't you get" the food, Trump told the staffers, and then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus rushed to correct him, but he made another bigoted comment in the same meeting by claiming Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote in 2016 due to ballots cast by "illegals."
“I don’t believe so, Mr. President," Pelosi said.
Trump periodically told visitors that his White House workspace had a "secret bathroom," and explained that he'd completely renovated the restroom after taking over for Barack Obama, but staffers would correct him and explain that only the toilet seats had been changed, which is customary during presidential transitions.
”You understand what I’m talking about," Trump said to one visitor, according to Haberman.
The guest, Haberman reported, “interpreted [the remark] to mean Trump did not want to use the same bathroom as his Black predecessor.”
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