Donald Trump made a controversial appearance on Russia’s state-run TV network RT on Thursday, where he defended Russia from accusations it launched a cyber-attack against the Democratic National Committee. “Who knows, but I think it’s pretty unlikely,” Trump told Larry King in the RT-exclusive interview. Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, slammed Trump for the appearance, tweeting: “[Ronald] Reagan never gave interviews to Pravda while campaigning to be our president. Who advised Trump to appear on RT?” Trump’s spokeswoman defended the candidate, saying Trump thought the interview was going to be on King’s podcast, not RT. Trump also faces intense criticism for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, when he said Putin has been “a leader far more than our president has been a leader.”