WASHINGTON, March 19. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump described his Russian counterpart as a "tough cookie" in an interview on the Fox News Channel aired late Saturday.

During the interview, Trump was asked to give short descriptions of several political and business leaders. When asked about Vladimir Putin, he replied:

"I don’t know him but certainly he is a tough cookie."

The president also commented on the ongoing attacks by the Democrats on the current Republican administration and lamented numerous media leaks. When asked whether his predecessor Barack Obama could be behind it, Trump replied that everything was possible.

"[Obama was] very nice to me personally but his people haven’t been nice," he said. "And there’s great animosity out there. There’s great anger."