'Many people said it was fake news': Trump explains why he refused to confront Putin on US troop bounties

President Donald Trump on Wednesday told Axios' Jonathan Swan that he never brought up Russia's alleged program of putting bounties on American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan during a recent phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a clip of the interview, Swan reminded Trump about intelligence regarding the bounty program, and asked him if he confronted his Russian counterpart about it when the two of them recently talked.

"No, that was a phone call to discuss other things," the president replied. "That's an issue where many people said that was fake news."

"Who said it was fake news?" Swan asked him.

"I think a lot of people!" the president replied. "If you look at some of the wonderful folks from the Bush administration, some of them not friends of mine, were saying it's a fake issue."

Trump went on to explain that he talked with Putin about nuclear proliferation, which he described as "a very big subject."

Watch the video below.