Trump furious at 'disgraceful' leak of Mueller's Russia questions

President Donald Trump has reacted with fury to the leak of more than 40 questions special counsel Robert Mueller wants to ask him as part of the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections.

Mueller’s investigators read the now leaked questions to Trump’s legal team on Monday as part of negotiations for the President to sit for an interview with the special counsel.

The president, as ever, took to social media to vent his spleen, penning a tweet that said: "So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were ‘leaked’ to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see...you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!"

Mueller's investigation is reportedly seeking to identify whether collusion took place between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin and whether the president has unlawfully obstructed the inquiry.

Speaking to Reuters, Savannah Law School professor Andrew Wright, who served in President Barack Obama’s White House, said: "It’s hard for me to imagine it’s coming from Mueller’s team. And it’s kind of a ham-handed effort if it’s someone who’s trying to help the president."

The New York Times said it had obtained the questions from a person outside the president’s legal team and reported that the majority of the questions relate to possible obstruction of justice.

Other questions relate to the President’s knowledge of the actions of former campaign chief Paul Manafort, who faces charges in two federal courts including conspiracy to launder money, failure to register as a foreign agent when he lobbied for the pro-Russia Ukraine government, bank fraud and tax fraud.

The nature of Trump’s involvement with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and the firing of former FBI Director James Comey also come under the spotlight in the list of queries.

Trump has been relentless in his insistence that he has nothing to do with election meddling.