Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) said Monday that a controversial comment President Donald Trump made about Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend shows that the president is behaving in a “statesman-like” manner.

TheBlaze previously reported that Trump defended Putin during an interview Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. In the interview that aired prior to the Super Bowl on Sunday, O’Reilly asked Trump if he respects Putin. When O’Reilly called Putin “a killer,” Trump replied: “We got a lot of killers. What, you think our country’s so innocent?”

The remark was met with criticism, including many of Trump’s fellow Republicans.

Huckabee said during an interview on Fox News’ "America's Newsroom" that, though Trump's critics during the campaign said that the billionaire's  “unfiltered” approach would lead to “disputes with foreign governments,” the president actually wants a renewed relationship with Russia.

"So Donald Trump is acting more statesman-like in saying, 'Look I'm not gonna call another foreign leader a murderer or a thug on international television because that kinda makes it hard to work with him,'" Huckabee said. "So he doesn't do it and instead of the press saying, 'Yes he's acting more presidential now rather than just firing off,' now he gets in trouble for that."

"Whatever Donald Trump says as president, somebody is not gonna like it, but a lot of American people do," he added.

Putin, a former KGB agent, is allegedly behind the assassinations of several political dissidents and reporters who challenged the Kremlin. He has also been accused of war crimes in Syria.