Donald Trumps defense of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in his televised CNN town hall left some Republicans on Capitol Hill again treading carefully at the risk of finding themselves at odds with the frontrunner for the partys presidential nomination.

Among them: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

In the town hall Wednesday night, Trump declined to call Vladimir Putin a war criminal, despite voluminous reports of atrocities such as torture and the use of rape as a tool of war by Russians in Ukraine.

He also declined to say which side he supported, in comments reminiscent of his very fine people on both sides observation about the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

If you say hes a war criminal, its going to be a lot tougher to make a deal to make this thing stopped, Trump said at the town hall . If hes going to be a war criminal, people are going to grab him and execute him. Hes going to fight a lot harder than hes fighting under the other circumstance. Thats something to be discussed at a later day.