(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s decision to entertain a request from his Russian counterpart to let that country question a former U.S. ambassador makes him “look weak in the eyes of Vladimir Putin,” the former diplomat Michael McFaul said.

"We look like we won’t push back on outrageous, crazy ideas," McFaul, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia under Barack Obama, said in an interview on MSNBC Thursday. "That is not even good for President Trump.”

Trump made no commitments to the Russian leader when Putin raised the idea at a private meeting in Helsinki on Monday and is “going to meet with his team,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday. Allowing the interrogation of a former American ambassador would be an unprecedented breach in protections traditionally provided to the nation’s diplomats.

Putin proposed questioning McFaul and other Americans in exchange for allowing U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller to observe interrogations of 12 Russian intelligence agents indicted by a U.S. grand jury last week in connection with hacking Democratic Party email accounts and disseminating those messages before the 2016 presidential election.

McFaul said Mueller’s indictment is full of "data and evidence," while he called the Putin allegations a "cockamamie scheme." He said he has lawyers and legal avenues to block the move if Trump grants Putin access. He called the episode shocking and said it will have a dampening effect on diplomacy.

"What I fear, because President Trump is probably not as conversant in these issues as he should be, or most certainly as conversant as Putin is, is that he probably just nodded along," McFaul said. "That’s just perfect for Vladimir Putin"

To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Washington at tdopp@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Derek Wallbank at dwallbank@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Kathleen Hunter

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.