Sen. Cory Booker Cory Anthony BookerBipartisan praise pours in after Ginsburg's death DHS opens probe into allegations at Georgia ICE facility Democratic lawmakers call for an investigation into allegations of medical neglect at Georgia ICE facility MORE (D-N.J.) criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Kirstjen Michele NielsenDHS IG won't investigate after watchdog said Wolf, Cuccinelli appointments violated law Appeals court sides with Trump over drawdown of immigrant protections Democrats smell blood with new DHS whistleblower complaint MORE as complicit with President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE for saying she did not hear him say the United States should not accept immigrants from "shithole countries."

"When ignorance and bigotry is allied with power, it's a dangerous force in our country. Your silence and your amnesia is complicity," Booker told Nielsen during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

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Nielsen said during questioning at the hearing that it was "possible" Trump used the vulgar term to describe Haiti and other countries during an Oval Office meeting attended by several lawmakers, but she could not hear him using the expletive.

"It was a meeting of 12 people. There was cross-talk," Nielsen told the panel. "Anything is possible. I can't testify to what I don't know."

Booker, an African-American senator, called Trump's reported remarks "the most vile and vulgar language."