For the second time in less than a month, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE is writing off a statement many found offensive — that President Obama was the “founder” of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) — as “sarcasm.”

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“ISIS is honoring President Obama,” Trump said Wednesday during a rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “He’s the founder of ISIS. He founded ISIS."

“I would say the co-founder would be Crooked Hillary Clinton,” Trump added of his Democratic rival and Obama’s former secretary of State. Trump has previously referred to each as ISIS's most valuable player as well.

Trump doubled down on the claim Thursday in an interview with Hugh Hewitt, telling the radio host that "everyone's liking" the comments.

“I know what you meant. You meant that he created the vacuum. He lost the peace,” Hewitt said.

“No, I meant that he’s the founder of ISIS,” Trump replied. “He was the most valuable player. I gave him the most valuable player award."

But on Friday, Trump tweeted that he was being facetious:

Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) "the founder" of ISIS, & MVP. THEY DON'T GET SARCASM? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2016

In July, Trump came under fire for saying he hopes Russian hackers find Clinton's 30,000 missing emails from her private server, statements he later dismissed as "sarcastic."