Trump says Putin is a better leader than Obama

Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a better leader than his US counterpart Barack Obama.

“If Putin says great things about me, I’m going to say great things about him,” the Republican presidential nominee said during NBC’s “Commander-in-Chief” forum on Wednesday. “Certainly in that system, he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been.”

Trump also cited Putin’s 82% approval rating, and said he has “great control over his country”.

“I think when he calls me brilliant I’ll take the compliment, ok?” he added.

He also predicted that if elected in November, “I think that I’ll be able to get along with him”.

Trump has made no secret of his admiration for Putin, who last year praised the US businessman as “very outstanding”. Trump has also suggested that the USA and Russia could form an alliance to defeat the Islamic State militant group.

During the event, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was on the defensive over her private email server. A US naval flight officer told the former secretary of state that he would have been jailed had he handled classified information as she had done.

“I did exactly what I should have done and I take it very seriously. Always have, always will,” she replied.

Clinton pledged to defeat IS, but insisted that the US will “not put ground troops into Iraq ever again”.

She admitted that her 2002 Senate vote in favour of the Iraq War was “a mistake”, but said it put her in “the best possible position” to ensure it never happened again.