Donald Trump's ex-lawyer&nbsp;Michael Cohen has alleged him of colluding with Russia to win elections, and promises proof of it in his new book.

Cohen is publishing a book titled&nbsp;"Disloyal, A Memoir.", in which he alleges Trump of colluding with Russia and much more.

A 3,700 word long foreword of the book was published recently.&nbsp;"Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything — and I mean anything — to `win` has always been his business model and way of life," Cohen writes in the book`s foreword, which was published online on Thursday.

While the foreword does not reveal anything new about the accusations, it is still unclear if the book will be able to reveal any additional detail or proof regarding these allegations, which have been circling Trump for few years now from different sources.

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller last year concluded that Russia waged a major campaign to help Trump to victory in 2016. However, Mueller was unable to establish a criminal relationship between the two.

Cohen, on the other hand, has worked closely with Trump over the years and therefore more proof on these allegations is being expected from Cohen's book.

His book has been the center of controversy for months now. The ex-aide was given the permission to publish the book in July end after he was dragged to&nbsp;Otisville prison as a retaliation for planning to publish a book about Trump.

Trump's administration has been trying to halt the production of this book for months now.&nbsp;White House spokesman Brian Morgenstern has now replied with question marks on Chen's credibility calling him to be a 'liar' and accusing him of oublishing the book only to make money from sales.

"He readily admits to lying routinely but expects people to believe him now so that he can make money from book sales. It’s unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump,” Morgenstern said.

Michael Cohen's lawyers have not yet responded back to the accusation made from the White House.

Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen has alleged him of colluding with Russia to win elections, and promises proof of it in his new book. Cohen is publishing a book titled "Disloyal, A Memoir.

Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen has alleged him of colluding with Russia to win elections, and promises proof of it in his new book. Cohen is publishing a book titled "Disloyal, A Memoir.", in which he alleges Trump of colluding with Russia and much more. A 3,700 word long foreword of the book was published recently. "Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything — and I mean anything — to `win` has always been his business model and way of life," Cohen writes in the book`s foreword, which was published online on Thursday. While the foreword does not reveal anything new about the accusations, it is still unclear if the book will be able to reveal any additional detail or proof regarding these allegations, which have been circling Trump for few years now from different sources. Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller last year concluded that Russia waged a major campaign to help Trump to victory in 2016. However, Mueller was unable to establish a criminal relationship between the two. Cohen, on the other hand, has worked closely with Trump over the years and therefore more proof on these allegations is being expected from Cohen's book. His book has been the center of controversy for months now. The ex-aide was given the permission to publish the book in July end after he was dragged to Otisville prison as a retaliation for planning to publish a book about Trump. Trump's administration has been trying to halt the production of this book for months now. White House spokesman Brian Morgenstern has now replied with question marks on Chen's credibility calling him to be a 'liar' and accusing him of oublishing the book only to make money from sales. "He readily admits to lying routinely but expects people to believe him now so that he can make money from book sales. It’s unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump,” Morgenstern said. Michael Cohen's lawyers have not yet responded back to the accusation made from the White House.

Book trouble: Trump's ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, accuses him of colluding with Russia to win elections

The leaders of the US Senate Intelligence Committee jointly pledged on Wednesday that their investigation of Russian hacking of the 2016 US&nbsp;election campaign would be bipartisan, a sharp contrast to bitter partisan disagreements surrounding a similar investigation in the House of Representatives.

Senator Richard Burr, the committee&#39;s Republican chairman who served as a security adviser to President Donald Trump&#39;s campaign, told reporters he has not coordinated with the White House on the scope of the investigation.

Burr declined to go along at this point with the White House&#39;s denial of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian hackers, who US&nbsp;intelligence officials believe sought to influence the election for the Republican Trump at the expense of his Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton.

&quot;We would be crazy to dry to draw conclusions from where we are in the investigation,&quot; Burr said at a joint news conference with Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel.

&quot;Let us go a little deeper into this before you ask us to write the conclusions,&quot; Burr said. &quot;That`s clearly something we intend to do down the road.&quot;

Both senators said their challenge is to answer for the American people whether there was anything in the investigation suggesting a direct link to Trump.

Warner and Burr both stressed the importance of exposing the activity of Russian hackers, which Warner said included about 1,000 &quot;paid Internet trolls&quot; who spread false negative news reports about Clinton.

The two senators said they also wanted to publicise what they described as Russia&#39;s attempts to influence upcoming elections in France and Germany.

Allegations by US&nbsp;intelligence agencies that Russian actors sought to boost Trump have lingered over Trump&#39;s young presidency. Trump dismisses such assertions and Russia denies the allegations.

(Reuters)

Allegations by US?intelligence agencies that Russian actors sought to boost Trump have lingered over Trump's young presidency

The leaders of the US Senate Intelligence Committee jointly pledged on Wednesday that their investigation of Russian hacking of the 2016 US election campaign would be bipartisan, a sharp contrast to bitter partisan disagreements surrounding a similar investigation in the House of Representatives. Senator Richard Burr, the committee's Republican chairman who served as a security adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign, told reporters he has not coordinated with the White House on the scope of the investigation. Burr declined to go along at this point with the White House's denial of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian hackers, who US intelligence officials believe sought to influence the election for the Republican Trump at the expense of his Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton. "We would be crazy to dry to draw conclusions from where we are in the investigation," Burr said at a joint news conference with Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel. "Let us go a little deeper into this before you ask us to write the conclusions," Burr said. "That`s clearly something we intend to do down the road." Both senators said their challenge is to answer for the American people whether there was anything in the investigation suggesting a direct link to Trump. Warner and Burr both stressed the importance of exposing the activity of Russian hackers, which Warner said included about 1,000 "paid Internet trolls" who spread false negative news reports about Clinton. The two senators said they also wanted to publicise what they described as Russia's attempts to influence upcoming elections in France and Germany. Allegations by US intelligence agencies that Russian actors sought to boost Trump have lingered over Trump's young presidency. Trump dismisses such assertions and Russia denies the allegations. (Reuters)

US Senate intelligence leaders pledge bipartisan Russia probe

The White House on Thursday pointed to Russian President Vladimir Putin&#39;s direct involvement in&nbsp;cyber attacks designed to impact the US election, dramatically upping the stakes in a dispute&nbsp;between the world&#39;s leading nuclear powers.

Publicly accusing Putin puts the White House under even greater pressure to respond forcefully to&nbsp;interference that may have swayed a tight November election between Republican President-elect&nbsp;Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Obama will hold a news conference Friday at 2:15 pm (1915 GMT) before leaving for a vacation in&nbsp;Hawaii. He is expected to be peppered with questions about the hacking dispute.

&quot;I don&#39;t think things happen in the Russian government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin&nbsp;knowing about it,&quot; said Ben Rhodes, a top adviser to President Barack Obama.

&quot;Everything we know about how Russia operates and how Putin controls that government would suggest&nbsp;that, again, when you&#39;re talking about a significant cyber intrusion like this, we&#39;re talking about&nbsp;the highest levels of government,&quot; he told MSNBC television.

&quot;And ultimately, Vladimir Putin is the official responsible for the actions of the Russian&nbsp;government.&quot;

His comments were echoed by White House spokesman Josh Earnest, who said that the decision by US&nbsp;intelligence agencies in October to publicly blame &quot;Russia&#39;s senior-most officials&quot; was not meant to&nbsp;be &quot;particularly subtle.&quot;

But blaming Putin now also puts the White House on a collision course with Trump himself, who&nbsp;continues to question Russian involvement in hacks of Democratic Party emails that were unflattering&nbsp;to Clinton.

&quot;If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did&nbsp;they only complain after Hillary lost?&quot; he tweeted.

&#39;Ridiculous nonsense&#39;

The 70-year-old billionaire-turned-incoming president appeared increasingly isolated in his stance,&nbsp;which runs against US intelligence estimates.

The conclusions by key bodies including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of&nbsp;Investigation have been accepted throughout the government, including among top members of Trump&#39;s&nbsp;own party.

In just five weeks, Trump will be in charge of those agencies when he succeeds Obama on January 20.

On Wednesday, senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he was informed by the FBI in August&nbsp;that his own campaign had been hacked.&nbsp;

&quot;My goal is to put on President Trump&#39;s desk crippling sanctions against Russia. They need to pay a&nbsp;price,&quot; he said.

Former CIA director Michael Hayden called Trump &quot;the only prominent American that has not yet&nbsp;conceded that the Russians conducted a massive covert influence campaign against the United States.&quot;

&quot;On this particular event, what Mr Trump says about it is the same thing that Mr Putin says about&nbsp;it.&quot;

The Kremlin rejected the allegations of Putin&#39;s involvement.&nbsp;

&quot;Ridiculous nonsense cannot have any basis,&quot; his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Thursday.

Trump&#39;s repeated dismissal of the CIA and FBI reports, and comments he made that former CIA&nbsp;officials call insulting to the intelligence community, threaten to undermine his relationship with&nbsp;an essential part of the government even before he takes office.

As for Trump&#39;s assertion that no one addressed the issue before his election win, Obama has&nbsp;repeatedly said both the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee were&nbsp;apprised of the hacking and the Russian threat well before November 8.

&quot;We determined and announced in October that it was the consensus of all the intelligence agencies&nbsp;and law enforcement that organizations affiliated with Russian intelligence were responsible for the&nbsp;hacking of the DNC, materials that were being leaked,&quot; Obama said Monday.

&quot;So that was a month before the election -- this was not a secret.&quot;

In Congress, some senior legislators are demanding a broad investigation and declassification of at&nbsp;least some of the secret CIA and FBI reports.

(AFP)

Obama will hold a news conference Friday before leaving for a vacation in Hawaii. He's expected to be peppered with questions on the issue

The White House on Thursday pointed to Russian President Vladimir Putin's direct involvement in cyber attacks designed to impact the US election, dramatically upping the stakes in a dispute between the world's leading nuclear powers. Publicly accusing Putin puts the White House under even greater pressure to respond forcefully to interference that may have swayed a tight November election between Republican President-elect Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Obama will hold a news conference Friday at 2:15 pm (1915 GMT) before leaving for a vacation in Hawaii. He is expected to be peppered with questions about the hacking dispute. "I don't think things happen in the Russian government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin knowing about it," said Ben Rhodes, a top adviser to President Barack Obama. "Everything we know about how Russia operates and how Putin controls that government would suggest that, again, when you're talking about a significant cyber intrusion like this, we're talking about the highest levels of government," he told MSNBC television. "And ultimately, Vladimir Putin is the official responsible for the actions of the Russian government." His comments were echoed by White House spokesman Josh Earnest, who said that the decision by US intelligence agencies in October to publicly blame "Russia's senior-most officials" was not meant to be "particularly subtle." But blaming Putin now also puts the White House on a collision course with Trump himself, who continues to question Russian involvement in hacks of Democratic Party emails that were unflattering to Clinton. "If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?" he tweeted. 'Ridiculous nonsense' The 70-year-old billionaire-turned-incoming president appeared increasingly isolated in his stance, which runs against US intelligence estimates. The conclusions by key bodies including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been accepted throughout the government, including among top members of Trump's own party. In just five weeks, Trump will be in charge of those agencies when he succeeds Obama on January 20. On Wednesday, senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he was informed by the FBI in August that his own campaign had been hacked. "My goal is to put on President Trump's desk crippling sanctions against Russia. They need to pay a price," he said. Former CIA director Michael Hayden called Trump "the only prominent American that has not yet conceded that the Russians conducted a massive covert influence campaign against the United States." "On this particular event, what Mr Trump says about it is the same thing that Mr Putin says about it." The Kremlin rejected the allegations of Putin's involvement. "Ridiculous nonsense cannot have any basis," his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Thursday. Trump's repeated dismissal of the CIA and FBI reports, and comments he made that former CIA officials call insulting to the intelligence community, threaten to undermine his relationship with an essential part of the government even before he takes office. As for Trump's assertion that no one addressed the issue before his election win, Obama has repeatedly said both the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee were apprised of the hacking and the Russian threat well before November 8. "We determined and announced in October that it was the consensus of all the intelligence agencies and law enforcement that organizations affiliated with Russian intelligence were responsible for the hacking of the DNC, materials that were being leaked," Obama said Monday. "So that was a month before the election -- this was not a secret." In Congress, some senior legislators are demanding a broad investigation and declassification of at least some of the secret CIA and FBI reports. (AFP)

White House backs intelligence claims on Putin's role in election hack

A group of electors who will ratify the US presidential election results next week on Monday called for a full briefing on accusations that Russia intervened to help Donald Trump win the vote.

With support from defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton&#39;s top advisor John Podesta, the 10 electors -- all but one Democrats -- said they need to understand the strength of those accusations before the 538-member Electoral College gathers on December 19.

&quot;The electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations,&quot; they said in an open letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.&nbsp;

&quot;We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr Trump is fit to serve as president of the United States.&quot;

The call came after weekend media reports said the Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that Moscow was behind the hacking of political party computers and the release of data that ultimately damaged Clinton in her fight against Trump.

Trump branded that conclusion &quot;ridiculous,&quot; but senior members of Congress are taking it seriously, and are poised to launch investigations.&nbsp;

Podesta, whose private campaign emails were part of the hacked data, said the electors&#39; letter &quot;raises very grave issues involving our national security.&quot;&nbsp;

&quot;Electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed,&quot; he said in a statement.

The US Constitution dictates that the electoral college ultimately decides the presidential election, not the popular vote.

Each US state is given a number of electors that corresponds to the size of the state&#39;s population.

In the November 8 vote, Clinton bested Trump in the popular vote by two percentage points, but Trump captured more states and earned 306 electors to Clinton&#39;s 232, giving him the White House victory.&nbsp;

Clay Pell, one of the electors who signed the letter, said it was &quot;essential&quot; to understand what happened before the electors meet to confirm the election result.

&quot;It&#39;s absolutely the role of the electoral college to consider that,&quot; he told AFP.

(AFP)

The call came after media reports said the CIA concluded that Moscow was behind hacking of computers, release of data that damaged Clinton

A group of electors who will ratify the US presidential election results next week on Monday called for a full briefing on accusations that Russia intervened to help Donald Trump win the vote. With support from defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton's top advisor John Podesta, the 10 electors -- all but one Democrats -- said they need to understand the strength of those accusations before the 538-member Electoral College gathers on December 19. "The electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations," they said in an open letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. "We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr Trump is fit to serve as president of the United States." The call came after weekend media reports said the Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that Moscow was behind the hacking of political party computers and the release of data that ultimately damaged Clinton in her fight against Trump. Trump branded that conclusion "ridiculous," but senior members of Congress are taking it seriously, and are poised to launch investigations. Podesta, whose private campaign emails were part of the hacked data, said the electors' letter "raises very grave issues involving our national security." "Electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed," he said in a statement. The US Constitution dictates that the electoral college ultimately decides the presidential election, not the popular vote. Each US state is given a number of electors that corresponds to the size of the state's population. In the November 8 vote, Clinton bested Trump in the popular vote by two percentage points, but Trump captured more states and earned 306 electors to Clinton's 232, giving him the White House victory. Clay Pell, one of the electors who signed the letter, said it was "essential" to understand what happened before the electors meet to confirm the election result. "It's absolutely the role of the electoral college to consider that," he told AFP. (AFP)

US presidential electors ask for intelligence briefing on 'Russian hacking'