text: White House official told me tonight there is debate internally on whether Trump said "shithole" or "shithouse." Perdue and Cotton seem to have heard latter, this person said, and are using to deny. ||||| On the Sunday morning shows today, Republicans who attended the immigration meeting in which President Donald Trump reportedly labeled immigrants from Haiti and African nations as “people from shithole countries” came to Trump’s defense, stating that his reported comments were misrepresented or that they couldn’t recall him saying those words. 
   
   Could it be that the president said a word that was extremely similar and used within the same context, and that this is what his defenders from that meeting are hanging their hat on? According to the National Review’s Rich Lowry, this might indeed be that case. 
   
   During a panel discussion on ABC’s This Week, Lowry explained that his sources have told him that instead of saying “shithole,” the president actually said “shithouse countries.” 
   
   “My understanding from the meeting is he used a different but very closely related vulgarity,” Lowry noted. “He said S-house, and not S-hole.” 
   
   The conservative commentator pointed out that regarding the president’s “general remarks,” Trump had “said them.” He added that the “general tenor of the discussion has been reported accurately.” 
   
   Lowry had previously reported this during a panel discussion in which he tangled with CNN political commentator Joan Walsh over whether she’d prefer to live in Norway or Haiti. 
   
   Watch the clip above, via ABC News. 
   
   [image via screengrab] 
   
   — 
   
   Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona 
   
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target: – There's a new flavor of debate regarding President Trump's alleged "shithole" comment: whether he actually said a different word that begins with s-h-i-t. Rich Lowry of the National Review appeared on ABC's This Week on Sunday and said his sources say Trump referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries as "shithouse countries" on Thursday. "My understanding from the meeting is he used a different but very closely related vulgarity," Mediaite reports Lowry as saying, and it suggests that the GOP senators who have issued denials around Trump's use of "shithole" are "hanging their hat" on the technicality. Mashable points out that Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post tweeted much the same thing Sunday night. "White House official told me tonight there is debate internally on whether Trump said 'shithole' or 'shithouse.' Perdue and Cotton seem to have heard latter, this person said, and are using to deny," he wrote. Whatever the word, South Africa is not pleased. CNN reports that the country will issue a diplomatic protest Monday, and Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein confirmed that high-ranking diplomats in South Africa and Ghana had been called for government meetings Monday. Reuters reports the No. 2 US official at the embassy will be asked to "explain the statement," per a statement given to the media Sunday that also noted "South Africa aligns itself with the statements issued by the African Union." Meanwhile, Trump on Sunday told reporters he is the "least racist person you have ever interviewed."