Marco Rubio responds to Trump's 'hellhole' comment against India
What's the story
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confronted with questions about US President Donald Trump's controversial remarks about India during a press conference in New Delhi. The incident took place on Sunday after Rubio's meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. A reporter had raised concerns over racism faced by Indians online, specifically mentioning Trump's remark calling India a "hellhole."
Response
Rubio taken aback by question
"We have a lot of racist comments coming from the United States against Indians, Indian Americans. This goes against the basic premise of the India-US relationship. What's your take on that?" a reporter asked. "Who made those comments?" Rubio responded. "Which ones?" The reporter then said the comments were "pretty well known," an apparent reference to Trump reposting a "hellhole" remark made by conservative radio host Michael Savage.
Rubio
'Every country in the world has stupid people'
"I'm sure that there are people who have made comments online and in other places, because every country in the world has stupid people. I'm sure there are stupid people here. There are stupid people in the United States who make dumb comments all the time," Rubio said. "I don't even know, some of those could be a troll, it could be a bot," he said, adding that he wasn't clear which incident the reporter was talking about.
Clarification
'President loves India'
When pressed further, Rubio said he had given the reporter a chance to specify but didn't get specific details. He said, "The president loves India. He said it last night...the president's a big fan of India, a big fan of Prime Minister Modi." He also stressed that he would not be here if the president didn't want him to be here and praised Ambassador Sergio Gor as someone close to the president.
Background
Controversy over Trump's 'hellhole' remark
The controversy stems from an incident in April when Trump shared a derogatory post by conservative radio host Savage, calling India a "hellhole." The Ministry of External Affairs had then responded without naming Trump, saying the comments "certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests."