President Donald Trump has hit back at criticism of his meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

The president calls the Monday summit in Helsinki “even better” than his meeting with Nato allies last week in Brussels.

Mr Trump is facing bipartisan criticism for his refusal to publicly challenge Mr Putin over Russia’s election hacking and for doubting US intelligence agency conclusions about Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign.

Trump backers, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have criticised his performance.

Mr Trump took aim at a familiar target, the media, saying his Nato meeting was “great” but that he “had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way – the Fake News is going Crazy!”

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Vladimir Putin, right, gives a football to President Donald Trump, left (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

The US president openly questioned his own intelligence agencies’ finding that Russia meddled in the 2016 US election, seeming to accept Mr Putin’s insistence that Moscow’s hands were clean.

The reaction in the United States was immediate and visceral among fellow Republicans and usual Trump critics.

“Shameful,” “disgraceful,” and “weak” were a few of the comments, while senator Bob Corker said it makes the US “look like a pushover”.

In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity broadcast on Monday evening, Mr Trump said “it’s a shame” that he and Mr Putin were being asked questions about the Russia probe while they were trying to discuss issues like Syria and nuclear proliferation.

“We’ve had a phony witch hunt deal drive us apart,” he said.

Standing alongside Mr Putin in Helsinki, Mr Trump steered clear of any confrontation with the Russian, going so far as to question American intelligence and last week’s federal indictments that accused 12 Russians of hacking into Democratic email accounts to hurt Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that president Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.

“He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Mr Trump said.

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President Donald Trump waves when boarding Air Force One as he leaves Helsinki (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

His scepticism drew a quick formal statement, almost a rebuttal, from Mr Trump’s director of national intelligence, Dan Coats.

“We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security,” Mr Coats said.

Fellow Republican politicians have generally stuck with Mr Trump during a year and a half of turmoil, but he was assailed as seldom before as he returned home on Monday night from what he had hoped would by a proud summit with Putin.

Senator John McCain of Arizona was most outspoken, declaring that Mr Trump made a “conscious choice to defend a tyrant” and achieved “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory”.

Mr Ryan, who rarely criticises Mr Trump, stressed there was “no question” that Russia had interfered.

Even staunch Mr Trump backer Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, called the president’s comments “the most serious mistake of his presidency” and said they “must be corrected — immediately”.

Arnold Schwarzenegger mocked Mr Trump, describing him as a “wet noodle” and a “fan boy” over his performance in Helsinki.

As he flew home to Washington aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump tried to clarify his position via tweet, saying: “As I said today and many times before, ‘I have great confidence in my intelligence people.’

“However, I also recognise that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!”