President Trump’s comments that he was ready to send US troops to Mexico to stop the “bad hombres down there” were “lighthearted” and not meant to be threatening, the White House said Thursday.

Trump’s remarks came during an hour-long phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto – but a White House official insisted the chat was “pleasant and constructive.”

The comments were “part of a discussion about how the United States and Mexico could work collaboratively to combat drug cartels and other criminal elements, and make the border more secure,” the official said, speaking to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

“You have a bunch of bad hombres down there,” Trump told Peña Nieto last Friday, according to an excerpt of the conversation obtained by the AP. “You aren’t doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn’t, so I just might send them down to take care of it.”

The Mexican government said the “negative statements” didn’t occur during the call.

“It is absolutely false that the president of the United States threatened to send troops to Mexico,” spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said Wednesday night.

In a discrepancy, CNN, which also obtained a copy of an excerpt of the call, reported that Trump threatened to stop Mexico’s “pretty tough hombres.”

“You have some pretty tough hombres in Mexico that you may need help with. We are willing to help with that big-league, but they have to be knocked out and you have not done a good job knocking them out,” Trump told Peña Nieto, according to the CNN account.