Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said Wednesday that Donald Trump's praise for Vladimir Putin is tantamount to defending the murder of journalists.

"We see Trump continuing to flatter Vladimir Putin. I find it particularly troubling that he flatters him in the context of assassinating journalists," Mook said Wednesday in Philadelphia. Mook has theorized that Trump and the Russians may have colluded to ensure the release of internal Democratic National Committee emails to ensure maximum damage to the party.

When asked to clarify exactly what Trump's connection is to the alleged hack of the DNC's servers, Mook admitted, "We don't know, we don't know ... experts are going to have to connect all those dots."

"All we know is that Trump continues to praise Vladimir Putin, to talk about how NATO should not necessarily intercede if the Russians are to make aggressive acts toward eastern Europe, and we're being told that the Russians stole this data and potentially released it for the purposes of hurting our campaign," said Mook. "I'm only absorbing what we are reading in the paper."

Trump and Putin have exchanged praise for each other's leadership abilities.

During a January interview on MSNBC, Trump was asked by host Joe Scarborough to clarify why he has defended the Russian leader against suspicions he kills journalists who don't agree him.

"He's running his country, and at least he's a leader, unlike what we have on this country," Trump said. "I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe, so you know."

"I'm confused," Scarborough said. "You obviously condemn Vladimir Putin killing journalists and political opponents, right?"

"Oh sure, absolutely," Trump responded.