Trump avoids criticizing Putin in talk with Hannity

Donald Trump avoided condemning Vladimir Putin last night when asked by Sean Hannity if he agreed the Russian leader is "evil."

Hannity set Trump up multiple times during the 30-minute talk with chances to criticize Putin, but the former president didn’t.

Hannity recalled Trump's previous description of Putin as "smart" then offered Trump an opportunity to strongly denounce Putin.

"Well," said Trump, "I was referring to the fact that he said this is an independent nation, talking about Ukraine, and I said that this was before there was any attack."

"Now," Trump continued, "a lot of things are changing. When you look, this doesn't seem to be the same Putin I was dealing with. But I will tell you, he wouldn't have changed if I were dealing with him."

When Hannity asked Trump why he was so confident that the violence in Ukraine wouldn't be happening under his watch, Trump said "nothing happened during our administration." He then touted his relationships with Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and President Xi Jinping of China.