“The rumors or the allegations or whatever you want to call them have been circulating for a number of months now,” Wood explained. “I saw the report, compiled by the former British intelligence officer, back in October. He is not, and this is the crucial thing, the only source for this.”

Wood said that he had been told by a member of the U.S. intelligence community that at least one East European intelligence service was aware “that the Russians had kompromat or compromising material on Mr. Trump.”

“It’s very, very difficult, of course, to talk to US intelligence people. They’re breaking the law if they talk to you,” the BBC correspondent pointed out. “But I did ask somebody with connections in the CIA to pass a message to them, and I got a message back that there was allegedly more than one tape, not just video, but audio as well, on more than one date, in more than one place, in both Moscow and St. Petersburg.”

Wood warned that “nobody should believe something just because an intelligence agent says it.”

He added: “But it is viewed as credible by the CIA, and that’s why it landed on President Obama’s desk last week, on the desk of the congressional leadership, and was given to Mr. Trump as well. And even congressional Republicans are talking about investigations, and Democrats, I know, are talking about impeachment.”