Trump says Russia investigation makes the US 'look very bad'

President Trump says that the inquiry into alleged Russian election meddling and whether his campaign colluded with the Kremlin is not helping America look great again.

“It makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position,” he said in an interview with the New York Times from his golf club in West Palm Beach.

“So the sooner it’s worked out, the better it is for the country.”

Trump's interview, where he touched on other issues such as his tax cut, comes as the Russia investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has moved to Trump's inner circle.

His former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pled guilty early this month to lying to investigators over his contacts, part of what observers see as a light sentence in exchange for information as Mueller has reportedly subpoenaed bank records related to Trump.

He told the Times that he did not collude with Russia, and his acceptance that Mueller is fair was a mild push back at some Republican lawmakers trying to paint the investigation as biased.

Though he has previously contrasted the investigation into his campaign with the probe into his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's private email server, Trump told added that he “stayed uninvolved with this particular matter” and would not direct the Justice Department in any way so that he can be treated fairly.

Other parts of Trump's interview focused on accusations of Chinese boats illegally selling oil to North Korea, and said that he had “been soft” on Beijing in terms of trade because he wanted help ending the rogue nuclear program.