The CIA had a top secret informant close to Vladimir Putin who confirmed the Russian president’s personal involvement in hacking the 2016 US election, it has been claimed.

According to the New York Times the source was giving information to the CIA during the Obama administration.

The information, and the source, were reportedly considered so sensitive that John Brennan, the CIA director at the time, gave details to Mr Obama in an envelope, separate from the daily presidential intelligence briefing that is delivered in the Oval Office, the New York Times reported.

Mr Brennan, accompanied by the head of the National Security Agency and Mr Obama's director of national intelligence, were said to have briefed Donald Trump on the information in a meeting at Trump Tower two weeks before his inauguration.

Despite having been told about the source confirming Mr Putin's personal involvement Mr Trump went on to repeatedly question whether Russia interfered in the election.