'I am NOT racist': Trump defiant after 's***hole countries' remark

Donald Trump insists he is "not a racist" despite reports of his derogatory comments about immigrants from Haiti and Africa.

He also denied making the comments attributed to him in a closed-door meeting of lawmakers discussing immigration, but did not go into specifics about what he did or did not say.

"Did you see what various senators in the room said about my comments?" he said to the reporter. "They weren't made."

On Friday, Trump tweeted a convoluted denial about his alleged choice of words, which triggered a global firestorm of criticism.

But Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who attended the lawmakers' meeting, said that "shithole" was the "exact word used by the president, not just once but repeatedly".

"He said these hate filled things and he said them repeatedly," Durbin added in a TV interview.

The White House did not deny that Trump had said the slur.

On Friday, the African Union expressed "dismay and outrage" at the reports and demanded that Trump apologise.