Donald Trump accuses intelligence agencies of 'maybe' leaking Russian dossier claims

He was speaking at the first press conference in six months

Donald Trump claimed the new Russian dossier of alleged salacious information about him might have been released by US intelligence agencies.

"I want to thank a lot of the news organisations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by, maybe, the intelligence agencies, who knows, which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they did that," he said.

"Because a thing like that should never have been written, never been had and certainly never been released."

He dismissed the report as "fake news".

Mr Trump was referring to the BuzzFeed report of an alleged compilation of negative information about him, which many news organisations did not report as the claims were unverified.

He has spent weeks casting doubt on US intelligence agencies, including the FBI and the CIA, who both concluded that Russia had exerted an "influence campaign" on the election. His first response to the allegations about his ties to Russia was that they were "ridiculous" - but he has since admitted that Russia had tried to break into US cyberspace, alongside "other countries", but that it had had not effect on the outcome of the election and that they had not managed to break into the Republican National Commitee systems.

FBI director James Comey confirmed at a senate hearing this week that Russian operatives had not broken into the RNC, but had got information on Republicans via other means.

"I want to thank those today who have not treated me well over the last few years. But I thank them today," he said.

"I just want to compliment many people in the room, I have great respect for the news and freedom of the press and all that but there were some news organisations that were so professional, incredibly professional, you’ve just gone up a notch as to what I think of you."

His press secretary, Sean Spicer, introduced him by saying the report was "frankly outrageous and highly irresponsible".

Mr Spicer added the report was "openly hostile" and provided "flat-out false information".

He said he had no loans, no debts and no deals in Russia, and that he wanted his relationship with Vladimir Putin to be "good" but that "it might not be".

His last press conference was on 27 July in Florida, and focused largely on questions about his alleged relationships to Russian business people.

“So, it's been 235 days since crooked Hillary Clinton has had a press conference,” he said at the time. ”And you, as reporters who give her all of these glowing reports, should ask yourselves why. And I'll tell you why. Because despite the nice platitudes, she's been a mess.”

The conference at Trump Tower on Wednesday makes it more than 160 days since he last spoke himself.