The White House has been accused of omitting a key question from the 16 July joint press conference of Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Independent reported.

During the exchange with journalists following the pair’s private, two-hour meeting in Helsinki, Finland, earlier this month, Reuters asked: “Did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?”

Mr Putin said he did want Mr Trump to win because "he talked about bringing the US-Russia relationship back to normal”.

In the White House video the only part which can be heard and seen is Mr Mason asking if Mr Putin had directed Russian officials to help the US president to look into election interference.