Andrew Yang Brendan McDermid/Reuters

The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang says the first thing he’d say to Russian President Vladimir Putin if elected is „sorry I beat your guy.“

Yang’s jocular remark came in Atlanta during the fifth 2020 Democratic presidential debate.

The tech entrepreneur followed up by saying he would make clear to Putin „the days of meddling in American elections are over.“

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On Wednesday night during the fifth 2020 Democratic debate, the tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang was asked what he would say to Russian President Vladimir Putin in their first conversation if he were elected.

In a jab at President Donald Trump and Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, Yang said: „Well, first of all I’d say, ‚I’m sorry I beat your guy.'“

The remark prompted laughter in the debate hall.

Yang followed up by saying he would make clear to Putin „the days of meddling in American elections are over.“

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WATCH: Andrew Yang says his first statement to President Putin if elected to office would be, „sorry I beat your guy.“ #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/YPvzfrIiiH

The US intelligence community concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to bolster Trump’s chances of winning and did so under Putin’s orders.

„Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election,“ according to a January 2017 intelligence assessment from the CIA, the National Security Agency, the FBI, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Trump has repeatedly expressed doubts about Russian election interference, and his skepticism is now linked, in part, to the central concerns of the House impeachment inquiry.

The president in a July 25 phone call urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden as well as a debunked conspiracy theory claiming it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.

There were two impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, with the second ending shortly before the debate began.

Yang, who’s not a 2020 frontrunner but has seen an unexpected level of success in the race so far, has said he supports impeaching Trump. „We’re a country of laws. You have to enforce the laws,“ Yang said in a late-September interview on ABC’s „The View.“