Former US President Donald Trump has said court officials "were crying" as he was indicted last week on business fraud charges, in his first interview since the historic arraignment.

Speaking to Fox News, Mr Trump said many of the staff at the Manhattan court "were in tears or close to it".

The 2024 White House contender vowed that even if convicted, "I'd never drop out, it's not my thing".

Last week he pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

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In the interview aired on Tuesday on the Tucker Carlson Tonight show, Mr Trump described how he was processed at the criminal court by officials, including police. He said "tears were pouring down their eyes".

"They were incredible," he said of the staff. "When I went to the courthouse, which is also a prison in a sense, they signed me in and I'll tell you people were crying.

"People that work there. Professionally work there that have no problems putting in murderers and they see everybody.

"It's a tough, tough place and they were crying. They were actually crying. They said, 'I'm sorry.'"

In the interview, Mr Trump maintained he is innocent and argued there is no case against him.

He touted the assessment of a critic of his, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who told CNN last week that the first-ever indictment against a former US president had "landed like a dud".

The Fox interview comes after a recent filing from a defamation lawsuit embroiling the conservative cable channel revealed that Tucker Carlson had said of Mr Trump in a text message: "I hate him passionately."

But there were no signs of any ill will between the two in the exclusive sit-down at Mr Trump's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. Much of the interview focused on foreign policy.

Mr Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin was "very smart", described the leaders of Saudi Arabia as "great people", and praised Chinese President Xi Jinping as a "brilliant man". 

The ex-president also said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "get along great to this day".