US President Donald Trump denied Monday he ever worked for Russia, answering a question he declined to directly address over the weekend. “I never worked for Russia,” he told reporters, AP reported.

Speaking from the South Lawn before departing the White House for New Orleans, Trump called former FBI and Justice Department officials “known scoundrels” and “dirty cops.” He was reacting to a New York Times report that law enforcement officials began investigating, in 2017, whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against U.S. interests.