Russia blackmailing Donald Trump, says report

Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday faced explosive claims that Russian intelligence gathered compromising information on him which the Kremlin dismissed as fake and aimed at damaging ties.

Mr Trump denounced a report circulating in US media with damaging claims over his personal and professional life as a “political witch hunt” as he was set to hold his first news conference in nearly six months on Wednesday. 

Russia denied the claims, with President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling journalists: “The Kremlin does not have compromising information on Trump.” He called the dossier a “total fake” and “an obvious attempt to harm our bilateral relations.”

Buzzfeed had published, without corroborating its contents, a 35-page dossier of memos , which had been circulating in Washington for months.