Trump claims Mueller probe driving US, Russia apart, says Putin calls it a 'shame'
Trump on the 'witch hunt' driving Russia, US apart
President Trump sits down for an exclusive 'Hannity' interview.
President Trump on Monday decried Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as a "phony, witch hunt deal" driving the U.S. and Russia apart.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin described the Mueller probe to him as "a shame" when the two leaders met in Helsinki earlier Monday.
"He felt it was very hard for me to make a deal because of, you know, all of this nonsense," the president said.
The full interview can be seen on Fox News Channel's "Hannity" at 9 p.m. ET.
Trump told Hannity that the biggest issue between Russia and the United States is nuclear proliferation, pointing out that the two countries account for "90 percent" of the world's nuclear weapons.
"I know President Obama said global warming is our biggest problem, and I would say that no, it’s nuclear warming is our biggest problem by a factor of about five million," Trump said. "The nuclear problem we have to make sure, we have to be very careful."
The president added that Putin told him that "he wants to be very helpful with North Korea." However, Trump said: "We’re doing well with North Korea [so] we have time. There’s no rush, it has been going on for many years."
Trump also discussed FBI agent Peter Strzok's testimony before House lawmakers last week, calling him a "total phony."
"It's a very dishonest deal and, you know, you have to find out who did Peter Strzok report to because it was Comey and it was McCabe, but it was also probably Obama."