US President Donald Trump has played down the importance of an ex-campaign aide indicted in the Russia inquiry.

He said his onetime foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was a “low level volunteer” and “liar”. Mr Trump once called him an “excellent guy”.

Papadopoulos, 30, this month pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Kremlin-related contacts.

Two other ex-aides have been charged as part of the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the US election.

The other two, former campaign chief Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, appeared in court on Monday to deny charges including money laundering.