WATCH: Joe Biden Says ‘I Don’t Think The American People Are Racist’ in Response to Tim Scott Rebuttal

President Joe Biden responded to Sen. Tim Scott’s declaration that “America is not a racist country” by saying “I don’t think the American people are racist,” but also describing root causes of systemic racism.

On Friday morning, The Today Show aired Craig Melvin’s exclusive interview with President Biden, during which Melvin asked the president to respond to part of Senator Tim Scott’s rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s address before Congress, during which Scott declared that “America is not a racist country.”

“I watched the speech last night, I watched the address, and then I watched the rebuttal from the junior senator from South Carolina last night, Tim Scott. He said, among other things, America isn’t racist. Is it?” Melvin asked.

“No, I don’t think the American people are racist,” Biden said, “But I think after 400 years, African Americans have been left in a position where they are so far behind the eight ball in terms of education and health, in terms of opportunity, I don’t think America is racist, I think the overhang from all of the Jim Crow, and before that slavery, have had a cost, and we have to deal with it.”

Vice President Kamala Harris made similar remarks when she was asked about Scott’s statement, although she went into slightly more detail.

During the speech that Sen. Scott was rebutting when he said “America is not a racist country,” President Biden did not say America is a racist country, but did say that his policies offer a chance to root out systemic racism that plagues America and American lives” in the criminal justice system and elsewhere.

Watch above via NBC News.