Back in Washington, Trump under pressure to reverse course on Russia

resident Donald Trump found himself isolated and under pressure to reverse course Tuesday after publicly challenging the US intelligence conclusion that Russia meddled in the 2016 election during his face-to-face with Vladimir Putin.

At his inaugural summit with the Russian president in Finland, Trump appeared to accept at face value the strongman's denial that Moscow interfered in a bid to undermine his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton -- a stance that triggered bipartisan outrage at home.

Back in Washington, Trump sounded a defensive note, insisting his meeting with Putin had been "even better" than his one last week with traditional allies NATO -- a testy gathering seen as having badly strained trans-Atlantic ties.

But the US president has found precious little support for his failure to confront Putin, and faced calls even from allies to change tack.