Putin dismisses US claims:

Russian President Vladimir Putin says claims about Russian involvement in US elections are untrue, and says the United States actively interferes with elections in other countries.

And he is dismissing as “a load of nonsense” the idea that Russia has damaging information on President Donald Trump.

“I never met with him. We have a lot of Americans who visit us,” Putin said in an interview with NBC’s “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly.” He added: “Do you think we’re gathering compromising information on all of them right now or something? Are you all — have you all lost your senses over there?”

US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia meddled in the presidential election to hurt the bid of Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump himself has been dogged by questions about any business dealings with Russia — he says he has none — as well as reports of a Russian dossier of damaging personal information.

Putin again denied any Russian involvement in the US presidential election and any knowledge of Russian contacts with the Trump campaign. A special counsel appointed by the Justice Department and congressional committees are investigating.

Former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired after allegedly asking him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his Russian contacts, is scheduled to testify Thursday before the Senate’s intelligence committee.