Despite offering some lukewarm to critical comments about Putin, he has also stated that they share a good rapport.
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump referred to Putin as a “strong leader” at a rally in Ohio, while also appearing to create some distance between them.
Addressing the crowd, he said, “Putin said good things about me. He said, ‘He’s a leader and there’s no question about it, he’s a genius.’” He continued, “So they all said – the media – they said, you saw it in the debate, they said, ‘You admire President Putin.’ I said, ‘I don’t admire him. I said he was a strong leader, which he is. I mean, he might be bad, he might be good. But he’s a strong leader.’”
Later, in 2019, during a G20 summit in Japan, he remarked on his “very, very good relationship” with the Russian president.
