Donald Trump news conference: US President-elect attacks 'sick people' he blames for Russian dossier
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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:
- Trump says he is a 'germaphobe' in apparent response to dossier sex allegations
- Trump says he is 'completely isolating' himself from business empire
- 'If Putin likes me, it's an asset'
- Trump attacks the 'sick' people who put 'c**p' intelligence dossier together
- Unofficial and unverified report into Trump's alleged Russian links included in official security briefing
- Trump calls allegations fake news and a political witch-hunt
- Scanned copy of former British spy's unverified report published by BuzzFeed
- Trump holds his first new conference as President-elect
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."
Mr Trump is jumping from topic to topic - dare we say he might be trying to fill time?
The pharmaceutical industry, military jets, military bands...
I think it is a "disgrace" that such reports got out, says Mr Trump
He claims that it is "opponents of ours" who are "sick people" who have brought things like the alleged dossier to the attention of the public.
Mr Trump says that he now believes Russia were behind the election hacking - "As far as hacking, I believe it is Russia."
Mr Trump is now back onto his favourite topic - Hillary Clinton and hacking.
He says hacking should not be done - but the information gained, including about Ms Clinton, were stories worth having.
He says he "respects" Mr Putin for today's statement on what he again calls the "fake news" of the Buzzfeed report.
Mr Trump: “If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what folks, that’s called an asset, not a liability.”
“Do you honestly believe that Hillary would be tougher on Putin than me? Does anybody really believe that?”
Mr Trump says he could do deals in Russia, but it would be a "conflict". He says he no longer has anything to do with the country.
He adds that he turned down a deal worth $2bn with someone in Dubai just at the weekend.
Mr Trump says he has always been aware of spying in hotel rooms in countries including Russia. And he warns people he travels with specifically about small cameras.
“I am extremely careful. I’m surrounded by bodyguards.. I always tell them, be very careful, because ... in those rooms you have cameras in the strangest places... you can’t see them and you won’t know. You better be careful or you will be watching yourself on nightly television.”
Mr Trump says that his two sons - Eric and Donald Jr will run his company. Although he repeatedly states that he does not need to do so.
He repeatedly makes clear that the 'no conflict of interest' laws do not apply to the president
One line that did get a laugh in the room was when Mr Trump said he was a "germaphobe":
Mr Trump calls up one of his lawyers and leaves the stage. The lawyer is now running down the various steps the President-elect has agreed over his business assets.
One of them includes Mr Trump agreeing that all pending deals will be terminated - that is claimed to be about 30. Domestic deals will be allowed, but no international deals.
The lawyer describes Mr Trump's “massive” business “empire” which she compares to Nelson Rockefeller.
The lawyer continues: “He directed me and my colleagues... to design a structure that would ... completely isolate him from his management of the company.”
“The conflicts of interest laws simply do not apply to the president and the vice president,” she says.
“Even so, president-elect Trump wants there to be no doubt in the minds of the American public that he is completely isolating himself from his business interests.”
The idea of passing "complete" control of the Trump Organisation to Donald Jr and Eric is to "build a wall" between the company and the presidency.
Sheri Dillon, the lawyer, says a trust will be created by 20 January. The trust will hold cash and perhaps an index investment and “pre- existing and illiquid business assets - golf clubs, resorts, hotels, royalties, real estate.”
And the management of the Trump Organisation goes to Don Jr and Eric, and a third Trump executive.
The management team will include an ethics adviser, Dillon says. “President elect Trump will resign from all offices he holds” with the Trump Organisation, she says.
Mr Trump has “already disposed” with all publicly traded and “easily liquidated” investments she says.
Ms Dillion says the President-elect has "isolated" himself and his businesses.
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