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'This is pulp fiction': Kremlin denies having compromising materials on Trump or Clinton

The Kremlin does not engage in gathering compromising materials on the US politicians, Peskov stressed

MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. The Kremlin has no compromising materials on US President-elect Donald Trump or his former rival at the presidential elections Hillary Clinton while reports to the contrary are absolute nonsense and pulp fiction, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

The Kremlin spokesman thus commented on the reports that Russia allegedly had compromising materials on US top officials.

"No, the Kremlin has no compromising materials on Trump," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman also said the Russian leadership did not have any compromising information on Hillary Clinton either. 

"This is absolutely fake information, a fabrication and complete nonsense. The Kremlin does not engage in gathering compromising materials," the presidential spokesman said.

"This is called pulp fiction," the Kremlin spokesman said, characterizing the relevant report by the US intelligence.

In Peskov’s opinion, such publications "are an obvious attempt to harm our bilateral relations."

"The quality of the unclassified part of the previous report [on alleged Russian hacker attacks on the United States] and the quality of this fake information are comparable," the Kremlin spokesman said.

"The quality of this paper speaks by itself," Peskov said.

As the Kremlin spokesman said, one has to respond to this "with certain humor," "although there is also a sad side of this: indeed, there are those who are instigating this hysteria, who are going overboard to maintain this state of the ‘witch hunt.’"

US President-elect Trump also characterized this new fabrication as the continuation of the witch hunt, the Kremlin spokesman said.

In Peskov’s opinion, "the continuation of this hysterical condition" is aimed at forcibly leaving the Russian-US relations "in the course of degradation and not allowing anyone simply to think about how much this corresponds to the interests of both countries and how much this corresponds to the interests of the global community and what can be done to switch over from total confrontation to constructivism in relations [between Russia and the United States]."

Media reports on compromising materials

The CNN reported earlier on Wednesday, citing US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings, that American intelligence chiefs briefed Trump last Friday about the alleged evidence that Russian operatives had comprising personal and financial information about the US President-elect.

According to the CNN, the allegations were presented in a two-page synopsis that was appended to a report on Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election. The allegations came from memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative whose past work US intelligence officials consider credible.

The online news site BuzzFeed posted a document, which was a full version of the former British intelligence agent’s report, according to the site’s data. At the same time, the web portal acknowledged the report as unverified and prepared for Trump’s political foes.