Trump has defended his close personal relationship with the leaders of Russia and North Korea, telling Fox News that his ties with them as president were "a good thing and not a bad thing."
Last week the Biden administration released intelligence suggesting that Russia obtained Trump campaign data in 2016, raising further questions about ties between Trump, his associates, and Moscow.
The White House this week also threatened sanctions against Russia if opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned with Novichok last year, dies in prison.
However, the former president used an hour-long interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News to dismiss all criticisms of his closeness to Russia and its leader.
Of his warm personal relationship with the Russian leader, he told Hannity that: "I got along great with President Putin. I liked him, he liked me. That's a good thing, not a bad thing."
Trump's comments to Hannity on Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin are beyond parody pic.twitter.com/AgsS4FvH4P
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 20, 2021
Human rights groups this month warned that North Korea faces imminent famine under the leadership of dictator Kim Jong Un.
However, Trump used his interview with Hannity to praise him, citing their personal correspondence together.
"When I came in President Obama said... 'the biggest problem we have is North Korea. There's going to be a war'. There was no war, we got along great," he told Hannity.
He added: "[Kim Jong Un] writes me letters. I like him, he likes me. There's nothing wrong with that."
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: How the 1999 Russian apartment bombings led to Putin's rise to power