Top US envoy Nikki Haley says 'everybody knows' Putin meddled in our elections but Trump told him ‘cut it out’

There have been differing accounts of the conversation between Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart

Ms Haley said it was important for Mr Trump to look Mr Putin in the eye and press him on hacking (Getty)

One of America’s most senior diplomats has said “everybody knows” Russia meddled in the election in the US - and in others around the world.

Speaking in Warsaw, a day before his much-anticipated meeting with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump had appeared somewhat uncertain on the issue.

“I think it very well could be Russia but I think it could very well have been other countries,” he said, speaking at a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

But Mr Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, has offered a much more forceful view, saying the US President raised the issue early on in his meeting with Mr Putin and asked him to “cut it out”.

“[Mr Trump] wanted him to basically look him in the eye, let him know that yes, we know you meddled in our elections. Yes we know you did it, cut it out,” Ms Haley said, in an interview to be broadcast on CNN.

“And I think President Putin did exactly what we thought he would do, which is deny it. This is Russia trying to save face. And they can’t. They can’t.”

She added: ‘Everybody knows that Russia meddled in our elections. Everybody knows that they’re not just meddling in the United States’ election. They’re doing this across multiple continents, and they’re doing this in a way that they’re trying to cause chaos within the countries.”

Both Mr Putin and Mr Trump have said the US President pressed his Russian counterpart on the issue, during their two hour meeting in Hamburg on Friday.

On Saturday, Mr Putin said he believed that Mr Trump had accepted his answers, which included a strong denial.

“He started to ask pointed questions, he was really interested in particular details. I, as much as I could, answered him in a fairly detailed way,” he told reporters.

“I believe it would not be entirely appropriate on my part to disclose details of my discussion with Mr Trump. He asked, I answered him. He asked pointed questions, I answered them. It seemed to me that he was satisfied with those answers.”

In another interview, Ms Haley declined to comment on what sort of consequences Russia may face for its interference in the election.

She told CBS: “I think you're going to have to ask the president.”

“You had two men walk into the room. You had two men who knew the exact same thing, which is Russia did meddle in the elections,” she added.

“I think President Trump wanted to make sure that President Putin was aware that he was acknowledging it, that he knew it. I think President Putin did what we all expected him to do, which was deny it.

“And I think that is what it is. President Trump still knows that they meddled. President Putin knows that they meddled, but he is never going to admit to it. And that's all that happened.”