Donald Trump said he believes his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention was "very optimistic." | Getty Trump: 'I love' that Clinton picked Kaine for VP

Donald Trump can count the reasons he says he loves Hillary Clinton’s decision to tap Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate.

"Well, first of all, he took over $160,000 of gifts. And they said, 'Well, they weren't really gifts, they were suits and trips and lots of different things,'" the Republican nominee told Chuck Todd in a typically combative interview that aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."


Furthermore, Trump said, picking Kaine was "a slap in the face to Bernie Sanders and everybody. I was shocked. I love it from my standpoint."

Trump continued, "And the third thing, he's in favor of TPP and every other trade deal that he's ever looked at. ... Now, he's going to change. Don't worry about that ... it's OK. He is going to change his tune."

Finally: "The other thing about him, he's bought and owned by the banks."

(Kaine accepted $160,000 in gifts legally under Virginia state law during his tenure as governor. A Kaine spokeswoman on Saturday confirmed that Kaine will not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.)

Trump’s remarks were broadcast a day after Clinton formally introduced Virginia Democrat Kaine as her pick for vice president in Miami and three days after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention, where Trump formally accepted the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.

Todd asked Trump why his convention address Thursday lacked optimism, saying, “It’s not 'morning in America.'”

Trump rebuffed that characterization.

“I thought it was very optimistic,” he said. “To me, it was an optimistic speech, because … because we’re going to stop the problems. We’re going to stop the problems.”

He said the only negative comments about his speech came from “the haters” and the only negative reviews were that the speech was “a little dark.”

Trump also called "100 percent wrong" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's remark that his suggestion that the U.S. might not come to the defense of NATO allies was a "rookie mistake."