Trump: Putin’s ‘doing a better job’ than Obama

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump says Russian leader Vladimir Putin is “doing a better job” than President Obama.

“I said he’s a better leader than Obama because Obama’s not a leader,” Trump said in an interview aired Thursday on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.” “He’s certainly doing a better job than Obama is, that’s all.”

{mosads}Trump stressed improved relations with Russia during the discussion with host Brian Kilmeade.

“Now look, you have to understand, Putin — if we could get along with Russia, I think that would be a good thing, not a bad thing. We don’t get along with Russia. We practically don’t get along with too many.”

Trump blamed much of the current tension on Obama, noting Russian aircraft buzzing U.S. military ships in recent months.

“You know why they do that?” he asked. “They have no respect for our leader. They have zero respect for our leader. That’s why they do that.”

“I don’t think they’d be doing that,” Trump added of his possible presidency. “I don’t think they’d be doing that for one minute.”

Trump on Wednesday said he does not know Putin personally despite previously remarking the pair have met.

“I never met Putin,” he said during a press conference at his Miami-area hotel. “I don’t know who Putin is.”

Those comment came amid questions about the possibility of Russian hackers breaching the Democratic National Committee and leaking officials’ emails.

Trump said last November he met Putin when the two each appeared on the same episode of CBS’s “60 Minutes.”