NEW YORK: A US official appointed by President Donald Trump resigned after CNN posted excerpts of him making racist and Islamophobic comments on a radio show he used to host, the news network reported.

Carl Higbie resigned from his post as external affairs chief at the Corporation for National and Community Service, according to a statement from CNCS spokeswoman, CNN said.

CNN KFile, the network’s investigative reporting team, posted recordings of Higbie’s internet radio talk show from 2013 and 2014 in which he expresses his dislike of Muslims, black people and homosexuality.

“I just don’t like Muslim people. People always rip me a new one for that. ‘Carl, you’re racist, you can’t, you’re sexist.’ I’m like, Jesus Christ, I just don’t like Muslim people because their ideology sucks,” he says in one excerpt. In another, he tells Muslims: “Go back to your Muslim shithole.”

Trump was accused of repeatedly using the word “shithole” when speaking about African countries during a meeting about immigration last week at the White House, causing diplomatic outrage in many African countries.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2018