Donald Trump in new Russian election meddling row after appearing to say US no longer being targeted

Donald Trump waded further into a row over Russian meddling after he appeared to deny the Kremlin is still targeting America, once again contradicting his own US intelligence officials. 

The US president appeared to respond “no” when asked by a reporter: “Is Russia still targeting the US Mr President?” 

His press secretary Sarah Sanders later said the president had been responding "no" to answering questions, but the president's response triggered immediate criticism. 

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Mr Trump should "stop taking the word of a KGB agent over that of your intelligence officials". 

US intelligence chiefs have repeatedly predicted that the Kremlin will attempt to interfere in the 2018 mid-term elections, which take place in November. 

Dan Coats, the US director of national intelligence, said on Friday: “The warning lights are blinking red again.” 

Mr Trump has taken a meandering stance on whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, which he won. 

The US president sided with the Kremlin in a press conference with Vladimir Putin on Monday, but about-turned on Tuesday, claiming that when he said he did not see why it “would” be Russia he meant “wouldn’t”. 

On Wednesday, Mr Trump lashed out at coverage of his summit with Mr Putin, which heralded a new era of co-operation but has been overshadowed by the row over election meddling. 

The US president tweeted: “While the Nato meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success.”

He added: “Some people hate the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia. They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!”

The phrase ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ is used by the president’s supporters to describe how his critics get so infuriated that they lash out excessively at his behaviour. 

It was used by Rand Paul, the Republican senator for Kentucky, earlier in the week as he became one of the few politicians to defend Mr Trump‘s election meddling comments. The phrase also appeared on the front of The New York Times on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile leading Democrats appear to be sensing a political opportunity, hoping they can pick up votes by appearing tougher on standing up to Russia than the Republicans. 

Mr Schumer said: “We will work to protect our security. We will not kowtow to Putin. 

“If we’re in the majority, we’ll probably be more effective and you’d see a lot stronger things protecting American security than you will with this majority, which seems so afraid of President Trump.” 

Mr Trump appeared to question whether he would support the ‘Article Five’ Nato commitment to defending all of the group’s members in the event of an attack. 

In a Fox News interview which aired on Tuesday, the US president was asked "why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?" Montenegro is a Nato member. 

Mr Trump responded: “I've asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. ... They are very strong people. They are very aggressive people, they may get aggressive, and congratulations, you are in World War III."

In a separate interview with CBS, Mr Trump said he holds Mr Putin personally “responsible” for the election meddling and insisted he gave a “very strong” warning about future interfering during their meeting. 

He said: “I let him know we can't have this. We're not going to have it. And that's the way it's going to be.”

FBI director Christopher Wray said Wednesday that the US intelligence community stands by its view that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election, despite Vladimir Putin's denial this week to President Donald Trump.

"He's got his view, he has expressed his view," Wray said when asked about Putin's denial to Trump at their summit in Helsinki on Monday.

"The intelligence community's assessment has not changed. My view has not changed, which is that Russia attempted to interfere with the last election and that it continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day."

Those acts "aimed at sowing discord and divisiveness in this country," he added.

He also dismissed Mr Putin's proposal to have Russian authorities aid in the investigation into the 12 Russian military intelligence officials indicted recently in connection with the election interference.

Mr Wray said Putin's offer is "not high on our list of investigative techniques."