US President Donlad Trump attacked critics in the message for chastising his "too nice" treatment of Putin, and argued that they would similarly complain if he had taken a tougher stance on Russian election interference and foreign policy.

"I got severely criticized by the Fake News Media for being too nice to President Putin. In the Old Days they would call it Diplomacy. If I was loud & vicious, I would have been criticized for being too tough. Remember when they said I was too tough with Chairman Kim? Hypocrites!" Trump tweeted.