Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

As it happenedended

Donald Trump news conference: US President-elect attacks 'sick people' he blames for Russian dossier

Rachael Revesz
New York
,Andrew Buncombe,Feliks Garcia,Adam Withnall
Wednesday 11 January 2017 10:15 EST
Donald Trump says unverified claims are blot on intelligence agencies

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Donald Trump has rejected reports Moscow has compiled a dossier of compromising information about his activities in and links to the Russian state.

Here are the latest updates:

With just nine days to go until his inauguration, Donald Trump has again found himself at the centre of a scandal involving alleged links to the Russian state.

A classified briefing on Russian hacking, given to both President Barack Obama and the President-elect, included allegations that Mr Trump or his surrogates had direct contact with the Kremlin before and during the 2016 election campaign.

And the report also details "perverted sexual acts" involving prostitutes alleged to have taken place in a hotel room in Moscow. The suggestion is that the claims could have been used by Russia to compromise the incoming US President.

Mr Trump has strenuously denied the unverified allegations, which came in a two-page synopsis attached to a classified intelligence report into Russian interference in the US election. A declassified version was distributed publicly last week.

Intelligence officials said they could not independently verify the embarrassing claims, compiled by a former British spy who was hired by Mr Trump’s political opponents.

The Kremlin dismissed the report as "fake" and "total bluff" in a statement on Wednesday morning, saying it had no "compromising information" on either Mr Trump or his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton. On Tuesday night, Mr Trump's political advisor Kellyanne Conway also dismissed the claims as coming from "unnamed, unspoken sources."

Welcome to The Independent's live blog bringing you the latest reaction to the news that fresh allegations against Donald Trump were included in a classified briefing by intelligence officials to the President and President-elect.

Adam Withnall11 January 2017 12:36

Senator Bob Corker of the Foreign Relations Committee has just kicked off what is likely to be a long day of proceedings

Andrew Buncombe11 January 2017 14:08

They're going to be questioning Rex Tillerson, Mr Trump's pick for Secretary of State, certainly one of the the most important cabinet posts

Andrew Buncombe11 January 2017 14:09

Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat says, there are questions they want to put to Mr Tillerson "because of comments" Donald Trump has made

Andrew Buncombe11 January 2017 14:42

Keep seeing people and hearing of people who don't support each other ... support and love and help each other all… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…

Jay Kennick11 January 2017 14:43

Justin Carissimo11 January 2017 14:43

Justin Carissimo11 January 2017 14:44

Justin Carissimo11 January 2017 14:45

Setting a tough tone for Mr Tillerson's  hearing, the panel's top Democrat, Senator Ben Cardin, regretted that remarks Mr Tillerson submitted ahead of the hearing did not mention the “direct, confirmed cyberattack by Russia on America”.

“It is frankly not too great a distance from Exxon's business partnerships to Putin's Kremlin-controlled slush funds essential for his 'disinformation' campaigns around the world,” Mr Cardin, a co-sponsor of a Senate sanctions bill aimed at Russia, said in prepared remarks.

Stuart Henderson11 January 2017 14:54

  ↵

Justin Carissimo11 January 2017 14:59

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in