CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday called out a Donald Trump surrogate’s defense of the former president’s increasingly authoritarian rhetoric.

Former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado (R) tried to spin Republican nominee Trump’s comments as just how people from New York talk.

But Cooper called that explanation “just bullshit.”

The exchange began when famed Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein asked Maldonado if Trump is a fascist. Maldonado said no. Bernstein asked if Trump says “fascistic things.” Maldonado responded, “I mean, he’s a New Yorker. He’s a fighter. He’s a leader.”

Bernstein noted that “New Yorkers who fight don’t usually invoke fascism. Does he say fascistic things day after day? I ask you?”

Maldonado claimed he didn’t see that in Trump.

Cooper said the idea it’s “what New Yorkers say, is just bullshit.”

Maldonado responded, “I’m from California and we look at New York as you know, they’re fighters. They’re strong. They tell it like it is. They’ll say it out loud.”

Cooper said that was a “comic book” description of people in the city.

Watch the full exchange here:

Maldonado had earlier claimed that former military officials who served during Trump’s first term had only soured on him after they left “or they’ve been fired, one of the two,” which Cooper repeatedly disputed.

During a lengthy back-and-forth, Maldonado told Cooper he was “talking to you how I feel, how people all of a sudden come after President Trump.”

“But how you feel is not factually correct. So, you’re saying things which are not factually correct,” Cooper replied.