Trump 'fuming' after leak reveals his Putin congratulation blunder

US President Donald Trump was infuriated on Tuesday night by the leaking of his decision to ignore a recommendation from his national security advisers not to congratulate Vladimir Putin during a phone call.

White House chief of staff John Kelly branded the rapid leaking of the President’s failure to stay on topic as "unacceptable", with CNN reporting that Trump is "fuming" and Kelly is "furious" that the information found its way to the media as only a small number of staffers should have access to the President’s guidance for the call.

According to officials familiar with the call, Trump ignored a warning from his advisers that was all in capital letters, reading "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" and also failed to bring up talking points put together by aides including irregularities in Russian electoral process and the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Other world leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also called the Russian leader but avoided congratulating him.

"We had a very good call, and I suspect that we’ll probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control — but we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have. And also to discuss Ukraine and Syria and North Korea and various other things," said Trump.

News of the call, which seems at odds with a tougher stance on Russia including sanctions and allegations of cyber-attacks, has prompted fresh criticism of Trump’s muted tone in reference to Russia.

Former US Presidential candidate John McCain said: "An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country’s future, including the countless Russian patriots who have risked so much to protest and resist Putin's regime."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined to comment on whether the administration believed the Russian election was free and fair, stating that the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election "didn’t come up" during the call.

However, a White House official cited by Axios did take issue with such criticism, saying "The idea he’s being soft on Russia is c**p. He approved Javelin missiles to Ukraine, closed the consulate in San Francisco, approved the sanctions. ... But ... he doesn’t want his personal relationship [with Putin] to be acrimonious."

Trump’s reluctance to criticise Putin comes as special counsel Robert S. Mueller probes Moscow's alleged meddling, with Mueller having already indicted 13 Russian nationals in February on conspiracy charges.