Russian officials on Wednesday brushed off claims that President Trump worked on behalf of Russia, according to a Bloomberg report.
Yuri Ushakov, Kremlin foreign policy aide, told reporters that those kinds of allegations were “stupid.”
“How can the president of the United States be an agent of another country? Just think about that,” Mr. Ushakov said.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also denied “accusations that President Trump is effectively a Russian agent” while speaking at an annual press conference in Moscow.
He said American reporters were “lowering their journalistic standards” by covering the allegations and accused Congress of undermining the president.
Over the weekend, reports surfaced that highlighted U.S. officials’ concern about the relationship between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The New York Times reported that the FBI launched an investigation of Mr. Trump after he fired FBI Director James B. Comey because the bureau was worried the firing was to benefit Russia.
The Washington Post released a piece alleging that Mr. Trump went to great lengths to conceal details about his conversations with Mr. Putin.
On Monday, CNN found transcripts from a congressional interview with former FBI counsel James Baker that showed the federal investigators debated if Mr. Trump was “acting at the behest of [Russia] and somehow following directions, somehow executing their will.”
“The other extreme is that the President is completely innocent, and we discussed that, too,” Mr. Baker said in his congressional interview. “We need to investigate, because we don’t know whether, you know, the worst-case scenario is possibly true or the President is totally innocent and we need to get this thing over with — and so he can move forward with his agenda.”
Mr. Trump forcibly denied having any sort of working relationship with the Kremlin.
“I never worked for Russia,” he told reporters on Monday. “I think it’s a disgrace that you even asked that question because it’s a whole big fat hoax. It’s just a hoax.”
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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