“I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean I’ll get along with them,” Trump told O'Reilly.

O'Reilly pressed on, declaring to the president that “Putin is a killer.”

Unfazed, Trump didn't back away, but rather compared Putin's reputation for extrajudicial killings with the United States'.

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“There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers,” Trump said. “Well, you think our country is so innocent?”

Trump added that he thinks the United States is “better” getting along with Russia than not.

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“If Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all around the world, major fight. That’s a good thing,” Trump said. ISIS is another name for the Islamic State.

It wouldn't be the first time Trump has brushed aside the topic of Putin's political killings.

In a 2015 interview on “Morning Joe,” Trump was pressed on the same issue and gave a similar answer.

“He kills journalists that don't agree with him,” the show's host, Joe Scarborough, pointed out.

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“Well, I think that our country does plenty of killing, too, Joe,” Trump said.