Washington DC - A clip of President Donald Trump saying his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "knows about rigged elections better than anybody" as the two met at the White House blew up on the internet.

Trump, who welcomed the Turkish leader to the White House Thursday, said he and Erdoğan stayed friends while he was out of office – an "exile" the Republican again falsely claimed was due to election fraud.

Turning to his guest, Trump then told reporters: "You know, he knows about rigged elections better than anybody."

During his 11 years in power, Erdoğan has targeted Turkey's main opposition party with repeated arrests, cracked down on independent media, and faced accusations of staging unfair elections.

A video of Trump's quip quickly went viral on X, garnering some 26 million views and thousands of comments, with many finding the moment hilarious.

Trump, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for his fellow authoritarian leader.

"This is a guy who's highly opinionated," he said. "Usually, I don't like opinionated people, but I always like this one, but he's a tough one."

The 79-year0-old has long shown admiration for strongmen who stay in power through autocratic rule.

In August, Trump heaped praise on Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev – who has led the former Soviet republic for 22 years – when he visited Washington.

"That's a long time, and the only reason you can be in a country that long is when you're very smart and very confident," he said.

Trump himself has repeatedly teased the prospect of seeking a third term, something barred by the US Constitution.