Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has again backed Kevin Rudd remaining as Australia’s top representative in the United States after Donald Trump suggested he would not forget the negative comments the ambassador had made about him.

Albanese hit out at journalists for continuing to ask questions about Trump and Rudd, saying it was a distraction from the substance of the issues he and the president discussed during their friendly meeting at the White House last week.

Trump reportedly told Rudd that “all is forgiven” after earlier saying he did not like him and probably never will, when asked about Rudd’s criticisms of the president before he was appointed to his ambassadorial post.

But when Trump was leaving the White House for Asia late on Friday night (Saturday afternoon AEDT) he indicated that he would not forget Rudd’s remarks.

“No, I don’t know anything about him,” Trump said when asked by this masthead’s North America correspondent Michael Koziol about his interaction with Rudd and whether he had forgiven the ambassador.

“I don’t – I think he said a long time ago something bad. You know, when they say bad about me, I don’t forget.”

Asked on Sunday whether he would be replacing Rudd in Washington, Albanese gave a definitive answer: “No.”

“And frankly, it says more about the journo … who asks the question more than anything else,” he told the Weekend Today program.

“I was in the room. It was fine.”