A SENIOR Republican leader reportedly made an explosive statement claiming Donald Trump could be the receiving payments from Russia’s Vladimir Putin a month before the real estate tycoon clinched the Republican nomination.

The Washington Post reports House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, made the allegation in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with fellow GOP leaders.

“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy reportedly said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was allegedly listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan then interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans in the room to secrecy, according to the Post.

Ryan allegedly instructed Republicans to keep the conversation private, saying: “No leaks ... This is how we know we’re a real family here.”

Before the conversation occurred, McCarthy and Ryan had emerged from separate talks at the US Capitol with Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladi­mir Groysman, who had reportedly described a Kremlin tactic of financing populist politicians to undercut Eastern European democratic institutions.

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McCarthy’s reported comments were revealed after the US Justice Department appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee a federal probe into the Trump administration’s alleged links to Russia.

The appointment today came amid a growing Democratic outcry for someone outside the Justice Department to handle the politically charged investigation.

President Trump issued a statement about the federal probe saying he was being treated ‘unfairly’.

In the statement the US President said he wanted a swift end to the federal investigation into potential co-ordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

“As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know — there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” Trump said in the statement.

“I look forward to this matter concluding quickly.

“In the meantime, I will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our country.”