Donald Trump has urged Britain to investigate the former intelligence agent reported to be behind the controversial dossier on his links with Russia.
The president-elect said the UK has "got a lot of problems" if it was proved ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele wrote the document, which claimed Moscow held compromising information on Mr Trump which made him vulnerable to blackmail.
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Speaking to The Times and German newspaper Bild, Mr Trump repeated his claims the US intelligence agencies could be responsible for leaking the dossier.
He said that Britain should "look at" Mr Steele, who he claimed had "made up" the allegations.
"That guy is somebody that you should look at because whatever he made up about me it was false," said the president-elect.
"He was supposedly hired by the Republicans and Democrats working together - even that I don't believe because they don't work together, they work separately and they don't hire the same guy."
He added: "If this guy is a British guy, you got a lot of problems."
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Mr Trump said he "ripped up the mat" when he heard the dossier's most lurid claims.
"If I did that in a hotel, it'd be the biggest thing," he said.
"They'd have me on the front page of The New York Post, right? And the other thing - I can't even, I don't even want to shake hands with people. Now I hear about this stuff - ugh!
"It's fake news, it was totally made up ... I wasn't even there. I was there for the Miss Universe contest, got up, got my stuff and I left."
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