US intelligence chiefs offered a broad warning of Russia’s plans to interfere in forthcoming US elections, the same day as a bipartisan group of US senators pushed for punishing new sanctions against Vladimir Putin and his allies.

Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, said US intelligence agencies cautioned that the US continued “to see a pervasive messaging campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States”.

Speaking at a White House briefing, where he was joined by FBI director Christopher Wray, Mr Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton and the director of homeland security Kirstjen Nielsen, Mr Coats declared: “We acknowledge the threat. It is real, it is continuing, we’re doing everything we can to have a legitimate election that the American people can trust in.”