Hacking had 'absolutely no effect on outcome of election', Trump says

Donald Trump has said that the hacking into the Democratic National Committee communications had "absolutely no effect" on the outcome of the election, after he was briefed on the topic by top security officials.

In a statement, he said he had a "constructive meeting" and has "tremendous respect for the work and service" of intelligence officials.

Earlier in the day he had said that allegations that Russia may have been involved in a bid to sway the election were a "political witch hunt" by people who had lost the election.

He has not addressed the issue of whether Russia was responsible for the cyberattacks, instead saying that he would appoint a team to combat them in future.

The president-elect acknowledged after his meeting that although other countries are "consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure" of government institutions.

"We need to aggressively combat and stop cyberattacks," he said. "I will appoint a team to give me a plan within 90 days of taking office.

"The methods, tools and tactics we use to keep America safe should not be a public discussion that will benefit those who seek to do us harm."