Story highlights The chess champ says the Russian government is trying to tilt the US election for Trump

He fled Putin's Russia to the US in 2013

(CNN) Former chess champion Garry Kasparov told CNN's Jake Tapper Friday he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is "absolutely" trying to bend the US presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.

"Absolutely," replied Kasparov, when asked on CNN's "The Lead" whether he agrees with "the premise that the White House puts forward that Russia is trying to elect Donald Trump?"

Furthermore, Kasparov, who fled the Putin regime to the United States in 2013, suggested the Russians likely possess information on Trump that is at least as damaging as the revelations contained in the WikiLeaks releases have been for Hillary Clinton.

"I don't believe for a second that Trump was clean and they couldn't find anything," he said. "More likely, they had plenty but they decided to use it privately to good effect, whether we are talking about debts or blackmail."

"Putin sees in Trump an ideal counterpart," Kasparov continued. "Trump shows no respect for democracy or rule of law."