ABC- US President-elect Donald Trump says "only 'stupid' people or fools" would dismiss closer ties with Russia, a day after intelligence leaders declared Moscow meddled in the US election with the aim of helping him get elected.


Mr Trump has repeatedly questioned the assessment by American intelligence agencies that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 election and despite a classified report being presented to him outlining Russian hacking claims, the incoming president has reaffirmed his desire for closer ties with Moscow.

"Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only "stupid" people, or fools, would think that it is bad!" Mr Trump tweeted.

"We have enough problems around the world without yet another one," he tweeted, saying Russians would respect "us far more" under his administration than they do with Barack Obama in the White House.

The report from intelligence agencies explicitly tied Russian President Vladimir Putin to election meddling and said that Moscow had a "clear preference" for Mr Trump in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

After a briefing by intelligence officials, Mr Trump said he "learned a lot" from his discussions, but he declined to say whether he accepted their assertion that Russia had intruded in the election on his behalf.

Outgoing US President Barack Obama has called for an end to political divisions over the issue, urging Americans to remember they are "on the same team".

"I think that what is true is that the Russians intended to meddle and they meddled," he said.

"One of the things I am concerned about is the degree to which we've seen a lot of commentary lately where there are Republicans, who are pundits or cable commentators, who seem to have more confidence in Vladimir Putin, than fellow Americans, because those fellow Americans are Democrats. That cannot be.
"We have to remind ourselves we're on the same team … Vladimir Putin is not on our team."
In a statement released after his briefing, Mr Trump sought to deflect questions over the legitimacy of his November 8 election win, saying there was "absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election".



However the report — an unclassified version of which was released soon after the meeting — explicitly states the agencies had not looked into the effect the hacking had on the election.

"We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election," the report said.

The intelligence agencies said Mr Putin likely had Democratic party emails hacked and information released as revenge against Mrs Clinton because he blames her for inciting mass protests against his regime in 2011 and 2012.

The report also concluded "Russia collected on some Republican-affiliated targets but did not conduct a comparable disclosure campaign", despite Mr Trump claiming his party "had strong hacking defences and the hackers were unsuccessful".

The report said Russia still had plans to intrude further into US politics and policymaking.

Former congressman tapped for intelligence director role

Mr Trump has also announced he will nominate former Indiana senator Dan Coats as the new national intelligence director.

In a statement, Mr Trump said Mr Coats — a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee before retiring from Congress last year — will lead the new administration's "ceaseless vigilance against those who seek to do us harm".

The post still requires Senate confirmation.

The office was created after the September 11 attacks to improve coordination among US spy and law enforcement agencies.