A top Kremlin aide on Wednesday dismissed as ridiculous claims that US President Donald Trump has acted as an agent for Russia amid mounting controversy over his alleged ties to Moscow.
"Why comment on something stupid? How can the US president be an agent of another country?" President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov told a briefing after a journalist if Trump was a Russian agent.
Ushakov said Russia's relations with the US were "at rock bottom" and "nothing has happened in the context of developing them."
Trump himself said on Monday that he "never worked for Russia" and told reporters: "It's a disgrace that you even ask that question."
The US president was responding to a report in The New York Times that said the FBI had opened an investigation into whether he was acting on Russia's behalf soon after he became president.
In addition, The Washington Post reported on what it said were unusual lengths taken by Trump to hide details of his conversations with Putin.
The bombshell reports as came as special prosecutor Robert Mueller presses a huge investigation into alleged Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election -- and the possibility Moscow colluded with Trump's campaign.