In a private phone call with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte last month, President Donald Trump praised the way Duterte has handled drug crimes in the Philippines, according to reports in the Washington Post and The Intercept.
Duterte’s crackdown on drug-related crimes has led to a significant increase in extrajudicial killings and Duterte has publicly threatened to kill drug suspects.
Trump praised Duterte for his “unbelievable job on the drug problem,” according to the Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the transcript produced by the Philippine government.
“Many countries have the problem, we have the problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that,” Trump added, per the Post.
Trump told Duterte that he is a “good man,” according to a transcript from the Philippine government obtained by the Intercept.
“Thank you Mr. President,” Duterte then told Trump, per The Intercept. “This is the scourge of my nation now and I have to do something to preserve the Filipino nation.”
Trump then appeared to make a comment about former President Barack Obama.
“I understand that and fully understand that and I think we had a previous president who did not understand that,” Trump told Duterte, according to the Washington Post.
In the White House’s official readout of the call released in April, the administration said Trump and Duterte “discussed the fact that the Philippine government is fighting very hard to rid its country of drugs.”