US Secret Service agent dies after stroke during Donald Trump's visit to Scotland

Man's name has not been released to give his family privacy

Trump maintains he has won club championships at 18 separate clubs – an assertion he made repeatedly in the election campaign (AP)

A US secret service agent who suffered a stroke during Donald Trump's visit to his Turnberry golf resort has died.

The agent, a man with 19 years' experience in the service, was in Scotland working on presidential protection when he fell ill.

He had been receiving "critical care" from medics in Scotland but died on Tuesday morning, surrounded by members of his immediate family.

The US secret service confirmed the death "with great sadness and regret" in a statement and described the man as a "dedicated professional of the highest order".

It added: "The secret service thanks the medical personnel in Scotland, in addition to the members of the White House Medical Unit and Police Scotland who provided exceptional care and support for a member of our family."

The service has not released the man's name to give his family privacy and time to inform others.

President Trump left Turnberry, flying out of Prestwick Airport to Helsinki, Finland, for talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

There he was forced to backtrack on his support of Vladimir Putin’s denial of Russian involvement in election meddling.

He claimed he “misspoke” during a press conference with the Russian leader and “accepts” US intelligence reports that Moscow sought to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Facing a storm of protest from across Congress for undermining US intelligence services by appearing to side with Mr Putin, Mr Trump said he needed to “clarify” his remarks in a rare climbdown that also highlighted his “confidence” in US intelligence.

The US president often repeats false statements rather than correcting himself, but it appears that the anger from Republican leadership – and the suggestion some members may ask Congress to censure Mr Trump – proved too great.

“I thought it would be obvious but I would like to clarify just in case it wasn’t: In a key sentence ... I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t’,” Mr Trump said ahead of a meeting with his cabinet and Congressional Republicans.

He clarified: “The sentence should have been ‘I don’t see any reason why... it wouldn’t be Russia’”. He said it was an issue with the transcript and he used “sort of a double negative”.

Press Association contributed to this report