I never use racial slurs, Trump says

President Trump pushed back Wednesday on allegations that he has a habit of spewing racist remarks in private, claiming people would have found about it earlier if that was the case.

Trump issued the blanket denial after he was asked during a combative news conference at the White House about accusations made by his former personal attorney Michael Cohen and ex-adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman. “I don’t use racist remarks and if I did, you would have known about it,” Trump said.

The President specifically rebutted Manigault Newman’s claim that there are audio recordings of him using the N-word.

“I’ve been hearing there are tapes, for years and years there are tapes,” he said. “I never worry about it because I have never used racist remarks.”

Trump’s rebuttal came days after Cohen alleged in an interview with Vanity Fair that his former boss frequently made racist comments about African-Americans behind closed doors.

“Black people are too stupid to vote for me,” Trump said during a meeting at Trump Tower in the leadup to the 2016 election, according to Cohen.

Years prior, shortly after the death of Nelson Mandela, Cohen said Trump had asked him to “name one country run by a black person that’s not a ‘s-thole,’” echoing remarks the President is said to have made about African immigrants in a closed-door meeting at the White House earlier this year.

Cohen did not return a request for comment on Wednesday.

The President has faced accusations of racism for years and critics say his public remarks alone are concerning.

Announcing his 2016 campaign, Trump infamously lamented Mexico for sending “rapists” to the U.S.

“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,” Trump said in the lobby of his namesake Midtown skyscraper. “And some, I assume, are good people.”