BUSTED: Trump denies knowing Matt Whitaker -- one month after saying 'I know Matt Whitaker' in Fox interview

President Donald Trump on Friday denied knowing anything at all about Matt Whitaker, the man whom he's controversially appointed to be his acting attorney general.

During his lengthy rant to reporters on Friday on the White House lawn, the president responded defensively to questions about why he appointed Whitaker to run the Department of Justice -- and he even denied knowing the man he tapped to be the nation's top law enforcement officer at all.

"I don’t know Matt Whitaker," Trump claimed. "Matt Whitaker worked for Jeff Sessions. And he was always extremely highly thought of, and he still is. But I didn’t know Matt Whitaker."

However, during an October 11th interview with "Fox & Friends," the president literally said that he knew Matt Whitaker.

During the interview, Fox host Steve Doocy asked Trump if there was any truth to a Washington Post report claiming that the president was considering replacing then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Whitaker, who at the time was Sessions' chief of staff.

Trump wouldn't say one way or another whether he really intended to replace Sessions with Whitaker, but he was full of praise for the man who would go on to become his acting AG.

"I can tell you Matt Whitaker's a great guy," Trump said. "I mean, I know Matt Whitaker."

Watch the video below of Trump below.