Trump cites Russia to dismiss claims Moscow has dirt on him

President-elect Donald Trump is persisting in efforts to contain embarrassing damage caused by the publication of unverified claims that he is being blackmailed by Russian intelligence, by citing Moscow saying that the report is false.

Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is "A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE." Very unfair!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017

The comment comes after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismisses the report and says the allegations could be used to keep American politicians from wanting to improve ties with Russia.

“We should treat it with humor, but there is a sad side to it, too,” he said. “There are people who are whipping up this frenzy, who are doing their best to keep this witch hunt going.”

“This is an evident attempt to harm our bilateral ties,” Peskov says. “The Kremlin does not engage in collecting compromising information.”

A US official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that intelligence officials had informed Trump about an unsubstantiated report that Russia had compromising personal and financial information about him. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not allowed to publicly discuss the matter.

— with AP