Former President George W. Bush came to the defense of the media today, calling it “indispensable” in an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today.”

Asked by Lauer to talk about his experience with the media, Bush said: “I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. We need an independent media to hold people like me to account.”

He added: “Power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive, and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power.”

Bush noted that he discussed the idea of a free press with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, adding: “It’s kind of hard to tell others to have an independent free press when we’re not willing to have one ourself.”

Bush also appeared to support investigating allegations of contact between Trump associates and the Russian government during the election campaign. Said Bush: “I think we all need answers.”

Here’s a clip of the interview, posted by NBC …