CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is calling out President Donald Trump for what he said is a racist appeal to evangelical leaders.

In a private meeting with a group of evangelical Christian supporters on Monday night, Trump reportedly warned of violence if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives after November’s midterm elections.

In audio obtained by NBC News, Trump said that Democrats “will overturn everything that we’ve done, and they’ll do it quickly and violently, and violently. There’s violence. When you look at antifa and you look at some of these groups — these are violent people.”

He urged those in attendance to get their congregants to vote Republican.

“If they don’t vote, we’re going to have a miserable two years and we’re going to have, frankly, a very hard period of time because then it just gets to be one election — you’re one election away from losing everything you’ve got,” he said in audio heard by The New York Times.

Toobin said Trump’s warning of “violence” was code for fear of African-Americans.

“Let’s be clear also about what’s going on here. The theme here is, ‘I’m Donald Trump and I’ll protect you from the scary black people,’” Toobin said on CNN on Tuesday.

He said “antifa,” or the anti-fascist movement, is perceived as an African-American group.

“This is about black versus white. This is about Donald Trump’s appeal to racism, and it just happens all the time,” Toobin said. “And we never say it, and we don’t say it enough for what it is, but that’s what’s going on here.”

Others also criticized Trump’s comments for a variety of reasons:

. @realDonaldTrump You warned the evangelicals that if Dems take over Congress in the midterms: “They will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently. And violently. There’s violence.” Was that a worry, warning or wish? https://t.co/TekxpyjroJ — Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) August 28, 2018

Donald preaches the gospel: Steal from the poor to pay the rich, collude with Russian spies, incite violence, pay off porn stars and grab women by the ...

Some of us would rather go to church with more conventional people like ... Robert Mueller.https://t.co/bnHvVUnoma — Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) August 29, 2018

"Trump warns evangelicals of violence if GOP loses" so he is inciting his base to be violent? Impeach him already. Come on Democrats get some damn backbone and move towards impeachment. #45mustgo — Rosa A. Clemente (@rosaclemente) August 28, 2018

He's not meeting "Christian leaders"

He's talking to Evangelicals that support him.

There's a difference.

Many denominations do not support Trump or his bigotry.

And yes, this kind of thing hurts the church. — Colleen Vawter (@colleenv123) August 28, 2018

This is going to be the president's message in 2020 -- vote for me or the left will murder you. https://t.co/Gmj9qpWnAN pic.twitter.com/pXEAlWq7Wa — Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) August 28, 2018

It doesn’t get much lower: Trump warns evangelicals of 'violence' if GOP loses in the midtermshttps://t.co/qm8BhZ8pLX — Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) August 28, 2018

nudging pretty close to legit fascist rhetoric here https://t.co/MKcEUHPZfn via @TPM — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 29, 2018

Trump tells Evangelicals:



1) He overturned a law banning churches from endorsing candidates (false)

2) Warns they're an election away from losing everything

3) Says opponents would violently overturn their gains

4)The midterms are a referendum on religionhttps://t.co/od3OAP1J5L — Nathan McDermott (@natemcdermott) August 28, 2018

Literally tying to freak out Evangelicals with the belief that their political opponents will murder them if the GOP falters in November.



Trump warns Christian leaders of violence if GOP loses https://t.co/oS4JY7xqnA via @NBCNews — Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) August 28, 2018

Also on HuffPost

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.