"Did you see what various senators in the room said about my comments?" he asked. "They weren't made."
Trump has been accused of using the word "s***hole" to describe African countries during an Oval Office meeting last Friday with a bipartisan group of six senators.
The President also questioned the need to admit more Haitians to the US, according to people who were briefed on the conversation but were not authorised to describe the meeting publicly.
Trump also said in the meeting that he would prefer immigrants from countries like Norway instead. The White House has not denied that Trump said "s***hole" though Trump previously has pushed back on some depictions of the meeting.
A confidant of Trump's told AP that the President on Friday called friends and outside advisers to judge their reaction on his inflammatory remarks.
Trump wasn't apologetic and denied he was racist, instead blaming the media for distorting his meaning, said the confidant.
- AP, AAP
