Democrats urge Obama to reveal extent of Russian electoral interference

Senior Democrats in both the Senate and the House of Representatives have urged US President Barack Obama to reveal the extent of Russian interference in the recent presidential election.

A group of senior House Democrats have written to the White House requesting a classified briefing on alleged Russian attempts to influence the course of the election by leaking hacked information to the WikiLeaks website to discredit Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton, launching cyberattacks and spreading 'fake news' and propaganda.

The letter was signed by Democrat members of the House intelligence, armed services, foreign affairs and oversight committees.

It comes as part of a Democrat push to expose alleged Russian attempts to influence the election.

House Democrats also introduced a bill calling for a formal probe of Russian cyber hacking of the 2016 election, while Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee called on the White House to declassify information on Russian interference.

The probe would be undertaken by a bipartisan commission, and would be modelled on the commission formed to investigate the 9/11 terror attacks.

The measures are likely to put Democrats at odds with the incoming Republican administration of president-elect Donald Trump. On the campaign trail Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, and denied claims that Russia had attempted to interfere with the election results.

In an interview with Time magazine Trump again denied the claims of Russian interference.

On the campaign trial Clinton accused Trump of being a "puppet" of Russia, and US intelligence agencies alleged Russia had been behind the WikiLeaks hacks.