President Donald Trump has been accused of being “played” by Russian leader Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US election.

Mr Trump on Sunday said he’s convinced Mr Putin believes it when he says Moscow did not interfere in US election, but the US President said he also believes US intelligence agencies, which have concluded that Russia did meddle.

“I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election,” Mr Trump said of Mr Putin at news conference with Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi.

“As to whether I believe it, I’m with our agencies.”

The US intelligence community has concluded that Russia interfered in the election to help the Republican defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Mr Trump had said that Mr Putin again vehemently denied the allegations – this time during an economic summit in Vietnam. Mr Trump said he believed “that when he tells me that, he means it”.

Mr Trump later lashed out at former heads of the US intelligence agencies, claiming there are plenty of reasons to be suspicious of their findings and dismissing them as “political hacks”.

Former CIA boss John Brennan told CNN that Mr Trump was dismissing the former officials – himself included – as “political hacks” in an attempt to “delegitimise” the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the election.

“I think Mr Putin is very clever in terms of playing to Mr Trump’s interest in being flattered,” Mr Brennan said.

“And also I think Mr Trump is, for whatever reason, either intimidated by Mr Putin, afraid of what he could do or what might come out as a result of these investigations,” he added.

James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, described the threat from Russia “manifest and obvious.”

“To try to paint it in any other way is, I think, astounding and, in fact, poses a peril to this country,” Mr Clapper told CNN.

Referring to Mr Trump’s criticism of him, Mr Brennan said: “Considering the source of the criticism, I consider that criticism a badge of honour.”

Shortly before taking office in January, Mr Trump said he accepted that Russia was behind the election-year hacking of Democrats during the White House race.

On Sunday Mr Trum said Mr Putin had again vehemently denied the allegations when the pair spoke on the sidelines of an economic conference in Danang, Vietnam. 

“Every time he sees me, he says: ‘I didn’t do that.’ And I believe — I really believe — that when he tells me that, he means it,” Mr Trump said.

The President has also said it makes no sense for him to press the issue when Russia could help the US with such issues as North Korea and Syria.

When will all the haters and fools out there realize that having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. There always playing politics – bad for our country. I want to solve North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, terrorism, and Russia can greatly help!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2017

Mr Trump also pointed to US sanctions on Russia in response to the election interference as punishment enough.

“They were sanctioned at a very high level, and that took place very recently,” he said.

“It’s now time to get back to healing a world that is shattered and broken.”

Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters took to the streets of Manila on Sunday ahead of ten President’s arrival for the Association for Southeast Asian Nations conference this week.

While Mr Trump’s Asian tour has offered some respite, the President will return to the US this week to renewed scrutiny over his election campaign’s links to Moscow.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and his business partner and fellow Trump campaign worker Rick Gates, have been charged with conspiring against the US, money laundering and making false statements.

The charges are the first laid by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during last year’s US election.

Separately, Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos admitted he met a Russian contact to discuss email “dirt” on Hillary Clinton after first denying it.

– With agencies