Fox News host Bill O’Reilly defended Donald Trump on Thursday against accusations of racism for his rants about federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, Media Matters reported.

“You don’t use the ‘R word’ unless you are David Duke,” O’Reilly told Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX). “Unless you have got a history of trying to denigrate minorities or other people. I mean, you need to have a perspective. That’s all I’m saying. I don’t think it was wise that Mr. Trump said that about the judge. It wasn’t wise.”

O’Reilly did not mention that Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, has loudly supported Trump, going so far as to accuse criticize his network — and specifically “shabbat goy shiksa” Megyn Kelly — for weighing in against Trump for calling Curiel a “hater” and “Mexican,” even though the judge was born in Indiana.

“Do you believe that Donald Trump gets up in the morning and says, ‘You know what? I don’t like Mexicans, I’m going to go out and try to make them look back.’ Do you believe that?” O’Reilly asked Flores.

“No, sir, I don’t,” Flores replied. “I don’t believe Donald Trump is a racist but he has made statements that can be interpreted as racist. And we don’t need that today, we want him to talk about a vision.”

Watch footage from the interview, as posted by Media Matters, below.