Spicer denies report Trump wants meeting with Putin in Iceland

“I would talk to them first”, he said, adding: “Certainly they are manipulators”. But repeated contacts just as Obama imposed sanctions would raise questions about whether Trump’s team discussed – or even helped shape – Russia’s response.

On Friday it emerged that Mr Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, have been in frequent contact in recent weeks, including on the day the Obama administration imposed the sanctions.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news cenference at Trump Tower on January 11, 2017 in New York City.

That’s why a Select Senate Committee is needed to investigate the Russian hacking, Trump’s relationship with Putin and whether, by virtue of blackmail or otherwise, the president-elect can be trusted to act free of Russian influence or control.

The report, published early on Sunday, said that Trump officials told British officials that the president-elect will meet with Putin at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said that he might lift the sanctions if Russian Federation helps the United States with its fight against terrorism or with other important goals.

Trump’s openly pro-Russia stance has been scrutinized recently amid US intelligence’s conclusion that Russian Federation helped him win the presidential election through hacking activities.

It’s unclear how USA officials became aware of the contacts between Flynn and Kislyak, who has served as Russia’s envoy to the US since 2008.

Others familiar with the issue have spoken of multiple conversations between Michael Flynn and Russia’s top diplomat, Sergei Kislyak. Three sources claim the pair held five phone calls, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile Trump’s claims that he has “nothing to do with Russia” appear to have been contradicted by his son Donald Jr, who reportedly said in a speech in 2008 that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our [Trump Organisation] assets”.

But Trump focused his angry comments during the news conference on the publication of unverified reports that claimed Russian Federation has compromising information about his behavior.

He only reluctantly accepted USA intelligence’s conclusion that Russian hackers acting on Mr Putin’s authority interfered in the United States elections.

When asked about the policy, Mr. Trump said “everything is under negotiation, including One China”.

The revelations of close ties with Russian Federation come immediately after the Central Intelligence Agency warned that Russian Federation may hold more than one recording of compromising footage of Mr Trump, containing video and audio of a sexual nature, which could be used to blackmail him.