Jim Angleton would have loved this. Angleton, admired and despised in equal measure, was the legendary (or notorious) CIA director of counterintelligence in the 1960s and 1970s, who spent those years in a Captain Ahab-like search for a Soviet mole in the Agency. He described the universe in which he operated as a “wilderness of mirrors.” Welcome to the crazy, cross-reflecting world of Donald Trump, Russia and Election 2016.

Amid the latest flurry of allegations – ranging from “perverted sexual acts” in the presidential suite of Moscow’s Ritz Carlton hotel to claims that Moscow had been “playing” Trump for five years and that Russia’s intelligence services and Trump operatives were in cahoots throughout the campaign – one thing above all must be remembered: not one whit of it has been confirmed.

It all may sound superficially plausible, given Trump’s record lewd remarks about women, his dogged refusal to accept evidence of Russian cyber-meddling in the campaign, and his slashing attacks on the US intelligence agencies who produced evidence of that cyber-meddling. But nothing in the dossier, as far as we know, has been corroborated, despite the best efforts of the FBI and CIA, and digging by the American media who, it now emerges, have known about this for months.

That of course may change. Something may be corroborated. In which case, all bets are off, and who knows what might happen. This was already the most extraordinary election ever: the new allegations raise it to the level of the utterly incredible. Nothing like this has occurred before.

President Donald Trump life in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 President Donald Trump life in pictures President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump poses in a rocking chair once used by President John F. Kennedy at his New York City residence Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump with his new bride Marla Maples after their wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Celina Midelfart watch the match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer during U.S. Open. She was the date whom Donald Trump was with when he met his current wife Melania at a party in 1996 Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas serving as the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, speaks to Donald Trump and Melania Knauss on the starting grid at the Daytona International Speedwa Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Developer Donald Trump talks with his former wife Ivana Trump during the men's final at the U.S. Open Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode : 'The Phantom Menace,' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump talks with host Larry King. Trump told King that he was moving toward a possible bid for the United States presidency with the formation of a presidential exploratory committee Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump answers questions as Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura looks on in Brooklyn Park. Trump said on Friday he 'very well might' make a run for president under the Reform Party banner but had not made a final decision Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump makes a face at a friend as he sits next to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso before the start of the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama City Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Entrepreneur Donald Trump is greeted by a Marilyn Monroe character look-a-alike, as he arrives at Universal Studios Hollywood to attend the an open casting call for his NBC television network reality series 'The Apprentice.' Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Simon Cowell present an Emmy during the 56th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump and Megan Mullally perform at the 57th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump, poses with his children, son Donald Trump, Jr., and daughters Tiffany and Ivanka Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Billionaire Donald Trump told Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on Tuesday she would be given a second chance after reported misbehavior Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles Reuters President Donald Trump life in pictures U.S. property mogul Donald Trump stands next to a bagpiper during a media event on the sand dunes of the Menie estate, the site for Trump's proposed golf resort, near Aberdeen, north east Scotland Reuters

The nearest parallel is probably the “October Surprise” conspiracy theory that top Reagan campaign officials had secret contacts abroad with America’s sworn enemy Iran during that month in 1980, to delay the release of the Tehran Embassy hostages until after the election. But these claims were never remotely proven. The Trump affair also involves reputed meetings between his staffers and Russians in Prague and Moscow. But it has broader, far more alarming dimensions.

The most worrying claims are not so much salacious goings-on in a Moscow hotel room – even if they were confirmed, Trump has already raised that bar so high – but that his operatives had colluded with Russia throughout the campaign, and that the Kremlin had been cultivating him for years. That would make him the Manchurian Candidate to end all Manchurian Candidates.

Again, to repeat, these allegations are precisely that: all unproven claims that no one has yet managed to substantiate. The Kremlin itself has denied the claims, not that that means anything. Fact or fiction, this entire affair works to Russia’s advantage.

Trump, meanwhile, has dismissed the whole thing as “fake news”. “Russia has never tried to use leverage over me,” he said during a Wednesday morning tweet barrage. “I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!” Was this Nazi Germany, he wondered.

Remember too that the allegations emanated from the dark world of opposition research, where truth is an infinitely malleable commodity. They are, we are told, the result of work by a former British MI6 officer who had worked in Moscow and now heads a political consultancy. He was first hired by anti-Trump Republicans, then by Democrats.

That the findings were appended to the top-secret dossier distributed to Trump, Obama and a handful of top Congressional officials was apparently because his work, and the sources he used, had proved credible in the past. But then again, nothing is as it seems. His Russian informers had every motivation to exaggerate and lie. The more trouble they could cause in the 2016 election, the better.

Donald Trump says he is a 'germaphobe' in apparent response to dossier sex allegations

True, nothing has been proved, but then again, it can be equally hard to prove a negative, that nothing happened. Such is the wilderness of mirrors in which America finds itself now, just nine days before the inauguration – and that’s why the affair may be so damaging, not just to Trump, but to the country.

Throw a heap of mud, and some inevitably will stick. Opponents of Trump will now find further reason to dislike him. This new firestorm will complicate the confirmation hearings of top appointees like the Secretary of State-in-waiting, the former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, already accused of having too cosy a relationship with the Kremlin. It increases the likelihood of a bipartisan Congressional select committee probe into the imbroglio, a full-scale investigation that so far has been resisted by Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader.

Worst of all, it can only further poison Trump’s relations with the US intelligence community, the same agencies who will be advising him at a moment’s notice on North Korean missile strikes and – yes – malign Russian behaviour in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.

Trump surely has a point when he asks what on earth these agencies were doing by taking seriously a hodge-podge of unsubstantiated smears and committing it to paper, in a town in which everything leaks. “An absolute disgrace,” he called it at his press conference. If Trump believes the intelligence community were part of a last-ditch effort to delegitimise his election by an establishment which still can’t accept him, then who can blame him?