Donald Trump was accused of inviting further interference in US elections on Friday after he suggested he would be open to accepting "dirt" on political opponents from foreign powers.

The US president said he would gladly take incriminating information about an opponent from adversaries such as Russia, flying in the face of his own FBI director's recommendations.

Leading Democrats were quick to seize on the comments, suggesting Mr Trump had not learned any lessons from 2016 and was inviting Russian help in the 2020 presidential election.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Mr Trump’s suggestions were “disgraceful” and “shocking” as he took took to the Senate floor on Thursday. “It’s as if the president had learned absolutely nothing in the past two years”, he said, referring to the federal investigation into potential Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The role of Mr Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, in organising a 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer offering negative information on Hillary Clinton was a focus of the inquiry.