White House senior adviser Jared Kushner denied any accusations of racism against President Donald Trump, but stumbled when faced with questions about his father-in-laws push for birtherism and the Muslim ban.

In an interview with Axios Jonathan Swan , Kushner vehemently defended Trump against charges by some Democrats, specifically Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) , that the president is a racist. Trumps former personal fixer, Michael Cohen, also recently called the president a racist .

You cant not be a racist for 69 years and then run for president and be a racist, the senior adviser told Swan. And what Ill say is, when a lot of the Democrats call the president a racist, I think theyre doing a disservice to people who suffer from real racism in this country.

When asked if Kushner thought Trumps so-called birther conspiracy theory was racist, he repeatedly said, Look, I wasnt really involved in that.

Trump built his political career by peddling the debunked racist birther hoax that questioned former President Barack Obamas U.S. citizenship. Obama was born in Hawaii.

Kushner also avoided answering the question of whether he thought Trumps campaigning on a Muslim ban was an example of the presidents religious bigotry, saying: I think the president did his campaign the way he did his campaign.

The final version of Trumps executive order, which was upheld by the Supreme Court last year , banned citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, as well as citizens from North Korea and Venezuela, from entering the United States. State Department data released in February showed that more than 37,000 visa applications were rejected last year due to the travel ban.