Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) on Monday tried to spin former President Donald Trump’s recent claim that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and CNN’s Abby Phillip wasn’t having it.

“Well, I don’t think that’s what he was saying,” Malliotakis told Phillip. “When he said they are poisoning, I think he was talking with the Democratic policies. I think he was talking about open border policy.”

Trump’s full comment was:

You know, when they let, I think the real number is like 15, 16 million people into our country, when they do that, we got a lot of work to do. They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done. They’ve poisoned, mental institutions and prisons all over the world. Not just in South America. Not just in the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world they’re coming into our country. From Africa, from Asia, all over the world. They’re pouring into our country. Nobody’s even looking at them. They just come in. The crime is going to be tremendous. The terrorism is going to be...

Whether Trump blamed policies or the people moving to the United States, commentators have suggested the result of his language is the same ― the dehumanizing of immigrants.

Watch Trump’s comments here:

Phillip pointed out, “Congresswoman, you’re saying that’s what you think he’s saying but he was pretty clear. He was saying that the immigrants who are coming in, he says they’re poisoning the blood of the nation.”

Malliotakis argued Trump never explicitly said the word immigrants and doubled down on her claim it was actually about Democratic policies.

“He was talking about people, not policy,” Phillip contested.

Malliotakis acknowledged “some people are trying to make Trump seem like anti-immigrant” but said he can’t possibly be because he’s married immigrants and hired them to work at his businesses.

Watch the exchange here: