--- description: Donald Trump has been criticized for being too sympathetic to Vladimir Putin, but he told Jimmy Fallon that he hardly knows the guy. title: Donald Trump Talks to Jimmy Fallon About Vladimir Putin image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump Denies Putin Friendship: 'I Know Nothing About Him, Really'  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2016 11:43 AM CUT  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2016 11:43 AM CUT Donald Trump [has been criticized](http://time.com/4397022/donald-trump-vladimir-putin/?iid=sr-link2 "undefined") for being [too sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin](http://time.com/4485162/donald-trump-doubles-down-on-russia/?iid=sr-link10 "undefined"), but he told Jimmy Fallon that he hardly knows the guy. On _The Tonight Show_ Thursday, Fallon told Trump he had a celebrity nickname for the reported “bromance” with Putin — “Vlump.” Trump smiled at the nickname but said, “I don’t know him, I know nothing about him really. I just think if we got along with Russia that’s not a bad thing… I don’t like him, I don’t dislike him, I don’t have any feelings one way or the other.” “They do try to pin me into this and I’m saying to myself, ‘I don’t even know him,'” Trump continued. “All of a sudden they make it like he’s my best friend.” During his appearance on the show Trump also said he wished the presidential debates had no moderators like the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates and allowed Fallon to [mess up his famous hair](http://time.com/4496425/donald-trump-hair-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show/ "undefined"). Fallon drew criticism for the show, with some [viewers](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/16/jimmy-fallon-criticised-for-joking-with-donald-trump-and-rufflin/ "undefined") and [journalists](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/critics-notebook-jimmy-fallon-helps-929508 "undefined") concerned about the host’s friendly attitude towards the controversial presidential candidate. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4496682/donald-trump-jimmy-fallon-vladimir-putin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4496682/donald-trump-jimmy-fallon-vladimir-putin/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Denies Putin Friendship: 'I Know Nothing About Him, Really'","datePublished":"2016-09-16T11:43:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:38:53.825Z","description":"\"I don't have any feelings one way or the other,\" Republican nominee tells Jimmy Fallon","url":"https://time.com/4496682/donald-trump-jimmy-fallon-vladimir-putin/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4496682/donald-trump-jimmy-fallon-vladimir-putin/","name":"Donald Trump Denies Putin Friendship: 'I Know Nothing About Him, Really'"}}]}] ```