Donald Trump has appeared to claim the UK invented Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election in order to “bait” the US into opposing Moscow.

The American president shared a tweet by William Craddick, founder of Disobedient Media, a right-wing news outlet which peddles in unverified claims and conspiracy theories.

“Russiagate was designed in part to help the UK counter Russian influence by baiting the United States into taking a hard line against them,” Mr Craddick wrote. “Leaves us all with a more dangerous world as a consequence. Just another episode of the Great Game.”

Though Mr Trump did not explicitly endorse the message he shared on Sunday night, he regularly and almost exclusively retweets messages he agrees with.

It is not clear what “Russian influence” in Britain Mr Craddick was referring to, but the "great game" is likely a reference to the political and diplomatic confrontation between Russia and Britain in the 19th century.

Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty

Mr Craddick’s post came in response to a tweet by controversial Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who accused members of her own party of encouraging US aggression towards Russia by suggesting possible ties between Mr Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Ms Gabbard herself appears to be receiving support from Russia. An analysis by NBC News showed sites linked to Russian influence operations celebrated Ms Gabbard’s announcement she was running last month.

(Twitter (Twitter)

Mr Trump’s endorsement of the explosive claim Britain was involved in a conspiracy to create “Russiagate” – a term commonly understood to refer to Russia’s meddling in the presidential election – represents another extraordinary swipe by the president at the UK.

It came just days after Mr Trump attacked prime minister Theresa May over her Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

Mr Trump’s latest insinuation of Russian innocence over the US presidential election will also exasperate the country's intelligence community, which has concluded the Kremlin interfered to help Mr Trump and damage Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.

The assessment led in part to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the election and potential links between the Trump campaign and Moscow – a wide-ranging probe the president has long castigated as a “witch hunt”.

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Mr Trump’s retweet came amid a flurry of tweets on Sunday, in which he called for an investigation into Saturday Night Live’s perceived bias against him, attacked recently deceased Republican senator John McCain, and called on Fox News to reinstate host Jeanine Pirro after she suggested Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar is against the US constitution because she wears a hijab.