Trump dismisses 'fabricated' report of Kushner's outreach to Russia

US President Donald Trump has swatted down a report that his son-in-law Jared Kushner sought a secret communications link to Russia "fabricated."

In a statement given to the New York Times, Trump praised the "great job" Kushner is doing but he did not directly address allegations made against him.

It has been claimed Kushner discussed setting up a backchannel with the Russian ambassador in December.

The New York Times and Washington Post said he wanted to use Russian facilities to avoid US interception of discussions with Moscow. He is reported to have done so before Trump assumed the presidency, so would have been a private citizen at the time.

The allegations came after Kushner was said to be under scrutiny as part of the FBI inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Reports in the US say investigators believe he has relevant information, but is not necessarily suspected of a crime.

Trump - who is said to have met with attorneys at the White House on Sunday - did not falter in his support for Kushner, who has taken a role as a senior White House aide.

Taking to Facebook on Sunday, Trump dismissed allegations of Russia ties as "fake news" and "fabricated lies."

"It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media," he wrote.

"Whenever you see the words 'sources say' in the fake news media, and they don't mention names it is very possible that those sources don't exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!" the US leader wrote.

On Saturday, national security adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters that he "would not be concerned about a back-channel" between Trump and the Kremlin. 

" We have back-channel communications with a number of countries. So, generally speaking, about back-channel communications, what that allows you to do is to communicate in a discreet manner," McMaster said.