President Trump on Tuesday said Russia is backing an "evil person" by supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad.



"Putin is backing a person that's truly an evil person," Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo set to air on Wednesday.



"And I think it's very bad for Russia. I think it's very bad for mankind. It's very bad for this world," he said.

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Trump further argued that Assad's use of chemical weapons on civilians makes the Syrian leader "an animal."



"But when you drop gas or bombs or barrel bombs — they have these massive barrels with dynamite and they drop them right in the middle of a group of people. And in all fairness, you see the same kids — no arms, no legs, no face. This is an animal," Trump said.

Trump to @MariaBartiromo: "Putin is backing a person that's truly an evil person" and goes further calling Assad "an animal" @FoxBusiness pic.twitter.com/IsN2IWKhfq — Chris Snyder (@ChrisSnyderFox) April 11, 2017

The White House on Tuesday released an intelligence assessment stating that the administration is “confident” that Assad used sarin gas in a chemical attack against civilians.

The assessment was released in an effort to push back on Moscow's attempt at “disinformation” about the origins of the attack.

“It’s clear the Russians are trying to cover up what happened there," a senior White House official said on Tuesday.

Last week the U.S. launched a missile strike at a Syrian airfield that was believed to be the source of the gas attack from earlier that week.