Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is not backing down from controversial statements he made at a Republican dinner on Wednesday in which he questioned President Obama’s patriotism, saying he does not believe that “the president love America.” Far from apologizing, Giuliani reiterated his sentiments on Thursday to Fox News host Megyn Kelly, telling her that not only did he want to apologize, but “I want to repeat it.”

Giuliani said that he believes the president’s initial approach is to criticize America. When the New York Times suggested that his remarks were racist, Giuliani said he thought that was a joke, since Obama was raised by a white mother and white grandfather, and attended white schools. He said it may be “socialism or possibly anti-colonialism,” but that it is not racism.

Prefacing his statement with “and I know this is a horrible thing to say,” Giuliani acknowledged what the critics immediately began to say. The former mayor also said that Obama “wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up, through love of this country.”

The comments are making Republicans squirm, as many feel that playing the “Obama isn’t really like you and me” card to a group of conservative media and right-leaning business executives plays right into a damaging racial arena that the GOP has worked hard to stay away from during the current presidency.

The dinner was in support of 2016 presidential contender Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). Walker is now being criticized for failing to rebuke Giuliani for his remarks. He deflected questions saying “the mayor can speak for himself.”