Story highlights Democrats have been alleging that Putin is seeking to help Trump

Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said the suggestions were "crazy"

(CNN) President Barack Obama on Tuesday wouldn't rule out the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be attempting to tip the US presidential election toward Donald Trump.

"Anything's possible," Obama responded when asked during an interview whether Russians could be working to influence the contest between Republican nominee Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

"Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin," Obama said during the sit-down with NBC News. "And I think that Trump's gotten pretty favorable coverage back in Russia."

Democrats have been alleging that Putin is seeking to alter the White House race after a massive hack of the Democratic National Committee and subsequent release of damaging emails from the organization's staff. Private cybersecurity experts have pinned the breach on Russia, and the FBI is investigating.

Obama said in the NBC interview, "What we do know ... is that the Russians hack our systems. Not just government systems, but private systems." He couldn't identify yet the motive behind the cyber intrusion.

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