Republican Donald Trump, a candidate in November’s presidential election, said he is not “racist”, defending himself in an interview broadcast yesterday, with the tycoon saying he has many “black friends”.

“I have so many black friends that if I were a racist, they wouldn’t be my friends,” the former president told news website Semafor. “They wouldn’t stand by me for a minute if they thought I was racist – and I’m not!” he continued.

Donald Trump has been heavily criticized numerous times for his statements that were considered racist, by both Democrats and Republicans, regarding African-Americans.

In late February, he suggested that the prosecutions he faces made him a more likeable candidate among black voters.

“A lot of people say black people like me because they’ve suffered so much and they’ve been discriminated against and they see me as somebody who’s been discriminated against,” he said.

Democratic President Joe Biden, Trump’s opponent in the November election, later called his remarks “racist.”