President Donald Trump contradicted reports that First Lady Melania Trump and White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump objected privately to rally chants urging that U.S. citizen Rep. Ilhan Omar be sent back to Africa. Rep. Omar was born in Somalia.

Following the uproar over Trump’s North Carolina rally, during which he stood silently as the crowd chanted “Send her back!” for a full 13 seconds, anonymous leaks to several news outlets said that Ivanka and Melania Trump had objected privately to Trump.

According to The New York Times, “Mr. Trump’s inner circle immediately appreciated the gravity of the rally scene and quickly urged him to repudiate the chant. Ms. Trump, his elder daughter and senior adviser, spoke to the president about it on Thursday morning, the people familiar with the discussions said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.”

And CBS News reported that Trump “took a lot of heat from his family over the racist chants,” and that “He heard from first lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka and Vice President Mike Pence.”

But on Friday, Trump quashed those efforts at some good PR for the women in his life by calling those reports “fake news.”

During an impromptu gaggle on the South Lawn of the White House, Trump was asked “What did the First Lady and Ivanka advise you about the chant? I know you guys talked about it…”

“False information,” Trump interrupted. “It was fake news.”

“You never talked about it with her?” the reporter asked.

“Nope,” Trump said, and added, “We — I talked about it, but they didn’t advise me. They told me, but I didn’t…”

The reporter asked Trump what they did say, but Trump simply insisted, “By the way, what you’re saying? Fake news.”

Watch the clip above, via The White House.

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