Donald Trump does not have a great track record when it comes to election meddling by foreign governments, in that he clearly welcomes it when it’s benefiting him and doesn’t plan to put a stop to it in 2020. Last July, during a press conference in Helsinki, he shocked U.S. diplomats when he told reporters that his own intelligence agencies were mistaken when they concluded Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, because former KGB spy Vladimir Putin had told him as much. “They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin—he just said it’s not Russia,” Trump said. He followed that up by saying out loud, in the presence of an entire camera crew, that he would welcome election meddling in the upcoming presidential elections, and certainly wouldn’t tell the FBI about it. “Oh, I think I’d want to hear it,” he told George Stephanopoulos earlier this month concerning what he would do if his campaign was approached by a foreign official with dirt about an opponent. Then, just to bring things full circle, he had a hearty laugh about the whole thing with his good buddy Vlad on Friday.

Meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, the topic of Russia’s well-documented interference did not initially come up, with the two men instead simply choosing to lavish praise on each other. Trump called their relationship “very, very good,” saying they “look forward to spending some very good time together” and that “a lot of positive things are going to come out of the relationship.” Only when Putin noted this was their first formal reunion since Helsinki-gate last summer, and that the G20 would be a “great opportunity to follow up on that,” did American reporters start shouting questions as to whether or not Trump would tell Putin not to meddle in future U.S. elections.

“Yes, of course I will,” Trump said, a smile creeping across his face. “Don’t meddle in the election,” he told Putin, with the huge grin of a man who knows he’s going to tell a foreign dictator to keep up the great work once the reporters are out of the room. Then, for good measure, he wagged his finger at Putin and said it again, cracking Putin up.

You know what else is hilarious? That Russia has a special way of dealing with a disobedient press:

Elizabeth Warren, among others, was not thrilled by the bit, tweeting: “Today, Trump joked with Putin about interfering in our elections. He joked about getting ‘rid of’ journalists with a man who has reporters murdered. The president is looking out for himself—not the American people. We need a president who will always stand up for American values.” Meanwhile, other world leaders at the summit struck a slightly less convivial tone with ole Vlad: