DONALD Trump has denied he was ever briefed on an explosive dossier of claims about him being linked to Russian prostitutes, as the man behind the dirt file was revealed.

Some of the more lurid details of the allegations from the dossier that got passed to intelligence chiefs were that he was secretly taped watching sex acts by prostitutes in Moscow.

Trump said they were highly improbable because he was a “germophobe” who hated uncleanliness, adding that he was very aware of the danger that hotel rooms may contain hidden cameras.

Trump’s denial comes as a former MI6 agent behind the dossier containing the explosive allegations is “terrified for his safety” after his identity was revealed.

Christopher Steele, 52, fled from his home in Surrey after realising his identity was about to be made public, The Daily Telegraph in Londonreports.

According to The Daily Telegraph, a source close to Mr Steele said he now fears a potentially dangerous backlash against him from Moscow.

EXPLORE MORE: US intelligence agencies warn of ‘dark, difficult future’

The unsubstantiated dossier on Trump, which has been circulating in Washington for months, was compiled Steele of London-based Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd.

The dossier was part of an opposition research project originally financed by a Republican client who opposed Trump, and later funded by Democrats, according to Mother Jones, which published an article about the report in October and said the operative had turned over the report to the FBI.

The New York Times reported the operative had previously worked for British intelligence. Mr Steele is understood to have worked as an expert on Russia for 20 years during his time at MI6, and was sent to Moscow as a spy in 1990.

CNN also reported that the dossier had been put together by a British former intelligence agent, and Mr Steele’s anonymity was fatally compromised.

Steven Hall, a retired chief of Russia operations at the CIA, said it was unlikely that intelligence agencies told Trump about the report as payback for his regular criticism.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told President-elect Donald Trump that he is dismayed by the leaks of the dossier to the media, and that intelligence agencies have not determined if the document published by BuzzFeed News is “reliable.”

“I do not believe the leaks came from within the IC,” Clapper said in a statement published by BuzzFeed.

“We both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security.”

Clapper also stated that while intelligence agencies have “not made any judgment” it was included “to ensure policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matter that might affect national security.”

TRUMP ATTACKS ‘PHONY’ RUSSIAN DOSSIER

In the hours before his first press conference in six months, Mr Trump issued a series of tweets in which he denounced the document as “A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE”. “Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to ‘leak’ into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?” he tweeted.

At his first news conference since the election, Mr Trump also flatly denied “phony” explosive allegations about ties with Russia and lurid behaviour on a trip to Moscow.

“I think it’s a disgrace that information would be let out,” Mr Trump said about the dossier.

“It was a group of opponents that got together, sick people, and they put that crap together.”

He also attacked BuzzFeed and CNN, the media outlets that reported information about the dossier, calling them “fake news” and denying CNN from asking a follow-up question on the story.

‘Does anyone believe that story? I’m also very much of a germophobe by the way,” he said.

He also argued with reporters during the media conference.

Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to "leak" into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017

It was one of several tweets the incoming President posted after the press conference expressing anger.

I win an election easily, a great "movement" is verified, and crooked opponents try to belittle our victory with FAKE NEWS. A sorry state! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017

Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017

Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is "A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE." Very unfair! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017

In the press conference, Mr Trump finally admitted that he believes Russia engaged in hacking during the US election. He also said it would be an “asset, not a liability” if he gets along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but admitted it was not a given that the pair would be allies.

“If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability, because we have a horrible relationship with Russia,” Mr Trump said. “I don’t know that I’m going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there’s a good chance I won’t.”

“As far as hacking, I think it was Russia, but I also think we’ve been hacked by other countries, other people,” he said.

Mr Trump also said:

— He would start talks with Mexico on a new border wall immediately after taking office and that Mexico will “reimburse” the US for the wall.

— He will nominate a new Supreme Court justice within two weeks of his inauguration.

— He will still not release his tax returns “because they are under audit.” Mr Trump said that the American people did not care about the documents anyway. “The only ones who care about my tax returns are the reporters.”

— Obamacare will be repealed and replaced “essentially simultaneously” once the new health secretary is approved.

— That the pharmaceutical industry was “getting away with murder”, saying he would create new procedures for bidding on drugs and save “billions of dollars”.

— He was happy to take credit for car makers Ford and Fiat-Chrysler deciding to make investments in the US, and in the case for Ford, cancelling a $US1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) plant in Mexico.

DEALING WITH CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Nine days from his inauguration as the nation’s 45th president, Mr Trump also used the news conference to detail how he planned to avoid conflicts of interest related to his sprawling global business empire.

He said his business assets would be put in a trust and he would hand control of his company to his two adult sons and a longtime business executive to allay concerns about conflicts of interest.

He also said that he would hand over all profits when foreign dignitaries stay in Trump Hotels to the US treasury.

A lawyer who worked with the Trump Organisation on the plan says Mr Trump is planning to make the change by inauguration day, relinquish control over the Trump Organisation and isolate himself from the business.

The lawyer says the company will not do any foreign deals but can pursue domestic ones, and says that the Trump Organisation will appoint an ethics adviser to its management team who must approve deals that could raise concerns about conflicts.

JOHN MCCAIN SAYS ‘IT WAS ME’

The press conference came as Republican senator John McCain handed over an explosive dossier on Mr Trump’s alleged links to Russia to the FBI in December.

The Arizona senator issued a public statement amid mounting questions of his exact role in the affair — and how a document riddled with errors and unverifiable claims came to be published.

“Late last year, I received sensitive information that has since been made public,” he said.

“Upon examination of the contents, and unable to make a judgment about their accuracy, I delivered the information to the Director of the FBI.

“That has been the extent of my contact with the FBI or any other government agency regarding this issue.”

Sen. McCain, who was branded as “not a war hero because he was captured” by Mr Trump, sent an emissary to meet the former MI6 agent to collect a copy of the dossier.

In an interview on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, one of Mr Trump’s leading aides Kellyanne Conway joined her boss in rubbishing the unverified claims contained in the document.

“Nobody has sourced it,” Conway said. “They’re all unnamed, unspoken sources. It says it was based on a Russian investigator to begin with.”

When Mr Meyers corrected her: “It was based on MI6 British investigators,”, Ms Conway replied: “Well, one of those”.

TILLERSON CALLS RUSSIA ‘A DANGER’

Meanwhie, Mr Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, adopted a tough new line on Russia, calling it a “danger” to the United States and saying he would have recommended a muscular response to Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. Both assertions appeared to contradict the views of the President-elect, who has repeatedly spoken of improving US-Russian ties.

Mr Tillerson, a friend of the Kremlin and foe of sanctions in his corporate life, said last week’s intelligence report that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election was troubling and that it was a “fair assumption” Russian President Vladimir Putin would have personally ordered the intervention.

He wouldn’t call Putin a “war criminal” for Russian military actions in Syria, but said he’d consider such a designation if he saw evidence.

Faced with pointed questions from Democratic and Republican senators about his ties with Russia and relationship with Mr Putin, who awarded him the Order of Friendship in 2014, Mr Tillerson sought to allay fears that either he or Mr Trump would go easy on Moscow. But in a surprising revelation, he conceded that he hadn’t yet discussed details with Mr Trump about his ideas for a Russia policy.

On Russia’s Crimea actions, he said: “That was a taking of territory that was not theirs.”

He said he had been “caught by surprise” by the step, while criticising the Obama administration’s response through sanctions on Russia, which ended up costing Exxon hundreds of millions of dollars.

Going beyond Mr Obama’s approach, however, Mr Tillerson said he would have responded to Russia’s actions against Ukraine by urging Kiev to send all available military units to its Russian border. He would have recommended US and allied support to Ukraine, through defensive weapons and air surveillance, to send a message to Moscow.

“That is the type of response that Russia expects,” he said in a response to questions from Senator Marco Rubio, who offered Mr Tillerson perhaps the toughest Republican questioning.

“If Russia acts with force ... they require a proportional show of force to indicate to Russia that there will be no more taking of territory.”

Economic sanctions, which Mr Tillerson had questioned as chief of Exxon, “are a powerful tool and they are an important tool in terms of deterring additional action,” the oil man said. However, he said they could also send a “weak” message unless carefully crafted and applied on an international basis. As chief of Exxon, Mr Tillerson opposed penalties on Russia championed by both Democratic and Republican politicians.

Unlike Mr Trump, who has played down the intelligence community’s allegations of Russian malfeasance in the presidential campaign, Mr Tillerson said he had no reason to doubt those conclusions.

On the Asia-Pacific free-trade deal, Tillerson said he is not against it putting him at odds with the president-elect who has vowed to scrap it.

“I do not oppose TPP,” he said, referring to the trans-Pacific Partnership negotiated by 12 nations including the United States and Japan, which would encompass some 40 per cent of the global economy.

“I share some of (Trump’s) views regarding whether the agreement that was negotiated serves all of America’s interests best,” he added during his lengthy confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

His brief comments on trade break with the position of his would-be boss. On the campaign trail last year Trump repeatedly vowed to tear up the TPP and other trade pacts on his first day in office on January 20.

In November, two weeks after his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump released a video in which he reiterated his pledge.

The likely demise of the TPP was welcomed in November by state media in China, where the deal had been criticised as a naked attempt to boost US influence in the region and contain the Asian giant.