President Trump says of his embattled former national security adviser Mike Flynn: "I do feel badly for him."

In an interview set to air Friday evening on Fox News, Trump said: "Well let me just tell you, I do feel badly for him. He served the country. He was a general."

The president's comments come as the White House has been deflecting questions about Flynn's past by saying his security clearance was approved in 2016 by the Obama administration.

Flynn is facing questions about whether it was proper for him to receive payments from the Russia Today television station in 2015 as a retired Army general.

"Just remember," Trump told anchor Martha MacCallum of Fox News, "he was approved by the Obama administration at the highest level. And when they say we didn't vet, well Obama I guess didn't vet, because he was approved at the highest level of security by the Obama administration. So when he came into our administration, for a short period of time, he came in, he was already approved by the Obama administration and he had years left on that approval."

Flynn previously served as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Flynn resigned as national security adviser in February, following reports he misled the administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition.