Denis Kamalet/AP Images)

“I’m not afraid of Putin,” Trump said. “He’s a killer. And he’s a thug and he’s a killer, so we’re going to have to bring him to justice.”

The news conference was another opportunity for Trump to discuss the Democratic National Convention, and to talk about the role of the media.

The remarks by Trump, who has faced intense criticism over the last several days for calling for Russia to hack the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign to find her missing emails, also reflected his broader approach to managing his public image: The media and the political establishment are not a comfortable fit.

If there’s an upside to that, it’s that it can allow Trump the same leeway that comes with more direct, personal attacks. In the aftermath of the Democratic convention, Trump fired off two public tweets blasting former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and the media response – a combination of criticism and praise – has been overwhelmingly negative.

“He didn’t call Megyn Kelly a bimbo,” he tweeted earlier this month. “He did call me a lightweight reporter!”

But it is the media that is the most powerful force in Trump’s life, and his public comments could set a dangerous precedent for any future presidents trying to speak publicly. He has already shown many times how little he takes criticism well: In his interviews, he often talks about how he has no problems with the Russian president, in fact, but he has criticized some of Obama’s foreign policy in particular and said he would like to get rid of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

“Why would I give him $30 or $100 or $5 billion and give that money to everybody in Germany to get them to pay for all their other problems?” he said during an October interview.

In the past, Trump has accused reporters of being “disgusted” with him and said that they should stop covering him to let him handle his own press conference. In the wake of the Democratic National Convention, he had not changed his tack and said he would go out in a “very, very strong press conference” and would use the press conference itself to announce some major policy initiatives “in a short period of time.”

Yet on Sunday, Trump appeared to indicate that he was willing to be more direct. Asked if he would call Putin, he replied simply, “Who