Pete Hoekstra, the new U.S.ambassador to The Netherlands, apologized Saturday for an embarrassing exchange with a Dutch TV journalist in which he dismissed as "fake news" that he had ever claimed the country had crime-ridden "no-go zones" controlled by a radical Islamic movement.

"That is actually an incorrect statement; we would call it fake news," Hoekstra responded when asked about remarks he made in 2015. "I never said that."

After a further exchange with reporter Wouter Zwart, Hoekstra then denied using the term "fake news" only moments before in dismissing the initial allegations.

“I didn’t call that fake news,” he said. “I didn’t use the words today. I don’t think I did.”

Zwart, the reporter for the current affairs program Nieuwsuur who conducted the interview in the U.S.Capitol in English, appeared nonplussed by the ambassador's response.

Zwart told CNN he did not play video of the 2015 remarks for Hoekstra, saying he "can't imagine he did not know of its existence," because it was widely available online. Dutch TV did run the clip during its broadcast of the exchange.

Zwart added that the ambassador said, "he had always meant the [no go-zones] comments in a broader context of European problems with 'those areas,'" and that "he reiterated to me that he's never associated that with what's going on in the Netherlands."

After a video of the exchange went viral, Hoekstra, a former Republican member of Congress from Michigan, apologized for the incident.

In his statement, posted on Twitter, Hoekstra noted that has been passionate about global terrorism for years.

"I made certain remarks in 2015 and regret the exchange during the Nieuwsuur interview," he said in the statement. "Please accept my apology."

In those 2015 remarks at a conference hosted by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Hoekstra said: “The Islamic movement has now gotten to a point where they have put Europe into chaos. Chaos in the Netherlands, there are cars being burned, there are politicians that are being burned.”

“And yes, there are no-go zones in the Netherlands,” he added.

Hoekstra, a Dutch native who emigrated to Holland, Mich., as a child, said in his latest statement that he considers serving as ambassador to The Netherlands "the greatest honor of my life."

"I look forward to the opportunity to learn, to listen, and to move on in the spirit of peace and friendship with the people and the leaders of the Netherlands," he said.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte took the diplomatic route, declining to comment on the incident to the media.

"We will first have to meet and try to build a relationship," Rutte said.