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Donald Trump is coming to the defense of Roger Ailes as the executive faces a lawsuit and accusations of sexual harassment by former anchor Gretchen Carlson. | Getty Trump on Ailes: 'A lot of people are thinking he's going to run my campaign'

In his first public comments on Roger Ailes’ departure from Fox News following an investigation into alleged sexual harassment, Donald Trump declined to say whether the media mogul is helping his campaign.

“Well, I don’t want to comment,” the Republican presidential nominee told Chuck Todd in an interview airing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But he’s been a friend of mine for a long time.”

Trump went on to say that Ailes helped the women who are now “complaining.”

“And when they write books that are fairly recently released, and they say wonderful things about him,” he said. “And now all of a sudden they’re saying these horrible things about him. It’s very sad. Because he’s a very good person. I’ve always found him to be just a very, very good person.”

Though declining to comment on a rumored campaign assist from Ailes, Trump said “a lot of people are thinking he’s going to run my campaign.”

The news broke last week that Ailes had stepped down as CEO and chairman of Fox News Channel shortly after allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace surfaced following a lawsuit filed by “Real Story” host Gretchen Carlson.

In another interview airing Sunday, Trump described Ailes as a "great guy."

"Roger is — I mean, what he’s done on television, is in the history of television, he’s gotta be placed in the top three, or four or five," Trump said in an interview with Mark Halperin for Showtime's "The Circus." "And that includes the founding of the major networks. So, it’s too bad. I’m sure it was friendly. I know Rupert [Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp.]. He’s a great guy."

He continued: "Rupert has great respect for Roger and everything Roger’s done. But when you think about Roger Ailes, in the history of television, there’s really been almost no instances where something like this has been done."