Story highlights "They hate white people, because white people are successful and they're not," Pittenger said

He later issued an apology over the remarks

Washington (CNN) A congressman who represents North Carolina apologized Thursday for saying there are riots in Charlotte because the protesters "hate white people."

"The grievance in their mind is that the animus, the anger -- they hate white people, because white people are successful and they're not," Rep. Robert Pittenger, a Republican, said on the BBC's "Newsnight." "I mean, yes, it is, it is a welfare state. We have spent trillions of dollars on welfare, where we put people in bondage so that they cannot be all that they're capable of being."

Pittenger, who has represented North Carolina's ninth congressional district since 2013, emphasized that people come to the United States for opportunities, not government handouts.

"America is a country of opportunity and freedom and liberty," he said. "It didn't become that way because of a great government who provided everything for everyone, no."

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