Trump goes after NBC news in latest Twitter rant

US President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter on 11 December to attack NBC's Nightly News in the latest of his rants on the social media site. Trump branded the show "biased, inaccurate and bad" after it featured a segment on his relationship with the intelligence agencies.

NBC was not the only organisation attacked by Trump in the tweet. "Just can't get much worse, although @CNN is right up there" he added.

Some have questioned Trump's reaction to reports that US intelligence agencies think Russia may have interfered in the 2016 election and helped secure the White House for him. In a statement, his transition team openly criticised the intelligence services, saying: "These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction."

Trump himself rejected the reports in an interview on Fox News, saying they are "ridiculous" and "just another excuse". Later, one of his top aides, Kellyanne Conway, added that the idea that Russia influenced the election is "laughable and ridiculous".

On 9 December, President Barack Obama ordered a "full review" by intelligence agencies into allegations that Russia was able to influence the outcome of the election. The same day, a secret CIA report said that they had identified individuals with links to the Kremlin who had hacked into the accounts of Democratic National Committee members and leaked emails to Wikileaks.

Despite Trump's attempt to brush it aside, the issue is now of concern to both major political parties in America. A bipartisan group of senators has called on Congress to investigate Russian interference, saying that the allegations should "alarm every American".

One former US ambassador to Russia, appearing on an NBC programme, suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been motivated by "revenge" in wanting to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House. Michael McFaul, who held the diplomatic post between 2012-2014, said that Putin believes Clinton interfered in a Russian election in 2011 and may have wanted revenge. He added that Putin and Trump also hold many similar policy positions.