14th January, 2019
US President Donald Trump has denied working for Russia, pouring scorn on the latest reports to cast scrutiny on his relationship with Moscow.
Addressing reporters at the White House as he left for Louisiana, he said: “I never worked for Russia.”
He denied a Washington Post report that he had concealed a translation of a meeting with Mr Putin.
According to the New York Times meanwhile, the FBI launched a hitherto unreported inquiry into the president.
According to the newspaper, the FBI ‘s suspicions were raised after Mr Trump fired its director, James Comey, in May 2017.
That FBI investigation, reports the New York Times, was taken over by justice department special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mr Mueller is leading an ongoing investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Asked outside the White House on Monday if he was working for Russia, Mr Trump denied it outright before adding: “I think it’s a disgrace that you even ask that question because it’s a whole big fat hoax.”
The two leaders had a private conversation during the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg
The Republican president was asked the same question by a Fox News host on Saturday, and called it “the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked”.
The New York Times notes in its own report no evidence has emerged publicly that Mr Trump took direction from Russian government officials.
On Monday, the president said his dismissal of Mr Comey was “a great thing I did for our country”, while railing against FBI investigators as “known scoundrels” and “dirty cops”.
It was also reported at the weekend that Mr Trump had confiscated the notes of his own interpreter after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the Washington Post, the US president ordered the translator not to discuss the details of what was said.
But on Monday, Mr Trump insisted that nothing untoward happened during his nearly hour long discussion with Mr Putin on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, in July 2017.
“It’s a lot of fake news,” said Mr Trump. “That was a very good meeting. It was actually a very successful meeting.”
He said he and Mr Putin discussed Israel and a German-Russian pipeline, adding: “We have those meetings all the time no big deal.”
ABC News reports that Democratic congressmen are considering issuing subpoenas to interpreters who attended Mr Trump’s meetings with Mr Putin.
On Monday, former Democratic White House candidate Hillary Clinton could not resist reminding Twitter users that during a campaign debate she had called Mr Trump the Russian leader’s puppet.
-BBC