Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's interview on the Kremlin-backed Russia Today TV network was conducted for host Larry King's podcast, according to the Trump campaign.

'Former CNN superstar Larry King has a podcast. And Mr. Trump went on his podcast,' Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said Friday morning on CNN's 'New Day' program.

'Nobody said it was going to be on Russian TV.'

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks rushed to defuse the potentially embarrassing interview on Thursday night, saying in a statement that 'Mr. Trump recorded a short interview with Larry King for his podcast as a favor to Mr. King.'

'What Larry King does with the interview content is up to him, we have nothing to do with it.'

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Donald Trump told 'longtime friend' Larry King on Russia Today that interference by Moscow in the November elections was 'probably unlikely'

NO ONE TOLD US: Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on Friday that the interview was meant for King's podcast, not for Kremlin-backed TV

In the interview, Trump cast doubt on reports that Russian intelligence has a covert plan to create distrust in the upcoming American presidential elections.

'I don't know. I've been hearing about it. I've been reading about it. I think it's probably unlikely,' Trump told Larry King on Russia Today, the Russian-backed news service.

'I think maybe the Democrats are putting that out, who knows? I think that it's pretty unlikely, but who knows. I hope that if they are doing something I hope that somebody's going to be able to find out so that they can end it, because that would not be appropriate at all,' Trump said.

The Washington Post reported this week that U.S. intelligence officials are investigating a Russian covert operation to 'sow public distrust in the upcoming presidential election.'

The apparent plan is to use cyber efforts to hack into the political process and spread disinformation.

Speaking general about the election process, which he has repeatedly raised concerns about, Trump said, 'I hope it's gonna be a very fair election. I don't know that it will be. I hope it's going to be.'

.@KellyannePolls on Donald Trump interview on Russian state TV: "Nobody said it was going to be on Russian TV" https://t.co/Lj5b8FdO6Y — New Day (@NewDay) September 9, 2016

Trump said he didn't have 'any opinion' on Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement that whoever hacked the DNC was doing a public service

Trump hailed NBC host Matt Lauer's performance in a televised forum, where Trump praised Putin as 'far more' of a leader than President Obama

King, who interviewed Trump numerous times when he was at CNN, stated 'just for the record, Donald and I go back 30 years, I consider him a good friend' at the top of the call-in interview, but proceeded to raise some sensitive subjects in his individual style.

Asked about Putin's statement that hacking of Democratic National Committee emails was a public service, Trump declined to criticize it.

'I don't have any opinion on it. I don't know anything about it. I don't know who hacked. I'm not sure who. I mean – you tell me who who hacked, who did the hacking. But I have absolutely no opinion on that statement. I haven't heard that statement,' Trump said.

Putin told Bloomberg News last week, 'Listen, does it even matter who hacked this data? The important thing is the content that was given to the public.'' U.S. officials blame Russian government-backed hackers for pulling off the intrusion, which embarrassed Democrats and led to the resignation of the DNC chair.

At Wednesday night's NBC forum, Trump once again praised Putin.

'The man has very strong control over a country,' Trump said when asked about Putin's past praise for him.

'I think when he calls me brilliant I'll take the compliment, okay?' Trump said when pressed about Putin, whose regime is under U.S. and international sanctions over Russia's incursion into Ukraine. 'The fact is, look, it's not gonna get him anywhere,' he added.

'If he says great things about me, I'm going to say great things about him.'

Trump continued: 'Now It's a very different system and I don't happen to like the system, but certainly in that system, he's been a leader. Far more than our president has been a leader.'

In the King interview, Trump also commented on Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson's interview gaffe where he failed to understand a question about the Syrian city of Aleppo.

'I don't know that it will hurt him that much frankly. He didn't know that. I saw that. It maybe will hurt him a little bit,' Trump said. 'I think he'll scoot by. They're not too much of a factor. They seem to be going down, the other two,' he added, in reference to Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

He said they shouldn't be allowed in debates. 'No, I'd rather be Hillary and myself because we're the only two with a chance of winning,' he said.

Trump hailed Matt Lauer's interviewing Wednesday, which got panned by media critics and even some NBC execs. 'I thought he was very professional. I thought he was strong, tough, I thought he was smart. I thought his presentation was excellent. I thought he was very professional,' Trump said.

And Trump showed no desire to share more details of his plan to defeat ISIS.