Donald Trump has complained about a Washington Post report that the Russian ambassador to the US said he discussed election-related issues with senator Jeff Sessions when the men met during the 2016 presidential race.

The US president tweeted on Saturday morning: "A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post, this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions.These illegal leaks, like Comey's, must stop!"

The Post on Friday cited anonymous US officials who described US intelligence intercepts of Ambassador Sergey Kislyak's descriptions of his meetings with Mr Sessions, who was a Trump foreign policy adviser and now serves as Attorney General.

The Department of Justice said Mr Sessions stands by his previous assertion he never had conversations with Russian officials about any type of interference with the election.