Then, President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a meeting in the Oval Office in May 2019.

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This story first appeared in NPR’s live blog of the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump presidential debate. Follow along for live updates, fact checks and analysis.

Former President Donald Trump cited his close ties to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to counter attacks by Vice President Harris during Tuesday night’s presidential debate that world leaders ridiculed Trump.

“Let me just say about world leaders, Viktor Orbán, one of the most respected men, they call him a strong man. He’s a tough man. Smart prime minister of Hungary. They said, why is the whole world blowing up?” Trump said.

“He said, ‘Because you need Trump back as president. They were afraid of him. China was afraid.’ And I hate to use the word afraid, but I’ll just quote him. ‘China was afraid of him. North Korea was afraid of him.’ Look what’s happening to North Korea, by the way. He said, ‘Russia was afraid of him,'” he added.

The response reflected Trump’s continued embrace of autocratic leaders.

Harris appeared to still be trying to get on Trump’s nerves during a question about the Middle East.

Orbán, who has become a hero to Trump supporters and other conservative populists, is known for his restrictions on immigration and LGBTQ+ rights. He has also cracked down on his country’s press and judiciary, while maintaining close ties to Russia.

“He’s trying, again, to divide and distract from the reality, which is that it’s common knowledge that Donald Trump is weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy,” Harris said. “It’s common knowledge that he admires dictators, he wants to be a dictator on day one, in his own words. It’s common knowledge that he said about Putin that he can do whatever he wants and go to Ukraine.”

Trump countered that Russian President Vladimir Putin supports Harris.

“Putin endorsed her last week,” Trump said, claiming it was a serious statement, though many experts said it was part of Russia’s disinformation campaign on Trump’s behalf.