Trump news - live: Justice Department's retaliatory Russia probe 'now a criminal inquiry' as top White House aide threatens reporter

The US Justice Department's investigation into the origins of FBI special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian election hacking in 2016, instigated by Donald Trump's attorney general William Barr and widely seen as a retaliatory measure to explore "deep state" liberal bias, is now "a criminal inquiry", according to reports.

The president meanwhile finds himself under renewed pressure as lawyers for Summer Zervos, a former candidate on Mr Trump's reality show The Apprentice who has accused him of sexual assault, says their client has evidence to corroborate her claim the he attacked her in a hotel room in Los Angeles in 2007.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is also in trouble after threatening a Washington Examiner reporter who asked her about her husband, a frequent critic of President Trump, prompting the journalist to publish a transcript of their phone call.