Trump says Russia is not the only US election meddler but 'nobody really knows for sure'

The US president made his comments ahead of his first meeting with the Russian leader at the G20 summit.

On the eve of his first meeting with Vladimir Putin at the G20, Donald Trump said he believes Russia meddled in the US election, but argued that "other countries" may also have interfered.

The US president questioned the veracity of the FBI's assertion that Russia interfered in the vote and insisted that "nobody really knows for sure what happened."

He did not elaborate on which countries he believes meddled in the presidential election and repeated his former claim that President Obama knew about Russia's involvement in the vote.

"They say he choked. Well, I don't think he choked," Trump told reporters. "I think he thought Hillary Clinton was going to win the election, and he said, 'Let's not do anything about it.'"

Determined to not cast a shadow over his election victory, Trump has avoided pinning the blame on Moscow and has remained elusive when asked about the issue.

"A lot of people interfere. It's been happening for a long time," Trump said on Thursday (6 July) and refused to say whether he would discuss the matter with Putin.

Trump also warned North Korea that he is considering some "pretty severe things" in response to Pyongyang's test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this week.

He declined to offer specifics on the US response to North Korea's military aggression, but called on other countries to confront the nation's "very, very bad behaviour."

The US president made his comments during a news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on 6 July, a day before the G20 summit kicks off in Germany.