Trump says Putin wanted Hillary Clinton to win presidency

US President Donald Trump, has claimed that Vladimir Putin would have preferred a victory for Hillary Clinton – despite US intelligence saying the Russian leader was behind a covert effort to help defeat her.

“We are the most powerful country in the world and we are getting more and more powerful because I’m a big military person,” Trump said. “As an example, if Hillary had won, our military would be decimated.”

“That’s why I say, why would he want me? Because from day one I wanted a strong military, he doesn’t want to see that.”

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Trump said “There are many things that I do that are the exact opposite of what he [Putin] would want.”

Trump said he got along “very, very well” with the Russian leader, whom he met in Hamburg last week.

“So what I keep hearing about that he would have rather had Trump, I think ‘probably not,’ because when I want a strong military” he said.

“When I want tremendous energy – we’re opening up coal, we’re opening up natural gas, we’re opening up fracking, all the things that he would hate – but nobody ever mentions that.”

On Saturday, Putin told the press that he had hopes for the bilateral relationship after meeting Trump.

“The Trump that you see on TV is very different than the real Trump,” Putin said. “He perfectly understands whom he is talking to and answers questions quickly. I think personal relations were established.”