Probe required to determine whether presidential election was 'rigged': DNC chairman

Newly-elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez has said that an investigation is required determine whether presidential election was 'rigged' by U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

"What we need to be looking at is whether this election was rigged by Donald Trump and his buddy Vladimir Putin," CNN quoted Perez as saying in an interview with Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" on Sunday.

He said Attorney General Jeff Sessions will not be able effectively investigate the Russian connections in presidential elections as he was a close aid of Trump during his presidential campaign.

Trump on Sunday continued his tirade against ' fake news media', saying that media reports on Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential race were "fake news" put by the Democrats and played by the media in order cover their defeat election defeat and the illegal leaks.

"Russia talk is FAKE NEWS put out by the Dems, and played up by the media, in order to mask the big election defeat and the illegal leaks!" Trump said in a tweet.

Top U.S. intelligence officials have said Russia tried to hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in a bid boost Trump by hacking the emails of Democratic political organizations.

Terming the Democratic National Committee (DNC) elections as rigged, Trump had said that Sen. Bernie Sanders never had a chance to win as Hillary Clinton demanded former Labor Secretary of U.S.A Tom Perez.

"The race for DNC Chairman was, of course, totally "rigged." Bernie's guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance. Clinton demanded Perez!," said Trump in his tweet.

Trump through his tweets also attacked New York Times saying that it would take bad advertisement to save its failing reputation and advised it to report accurately and fairly.

Earlier, Trump wished Perez for winning the DNC elections.

"Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!," Trump tweeted.

Perez has been declared the DNC's new chairman. His victory in Atlanta on Saturday saw him make history as the first Latino to lead the task of rebuilding the opposition to Trump.

Perez, who earlier served in the Barack Obama administration, was considered as running mate for Hillary Clinton. He won against U.S. representative Keith Ellison by a fair margin.

Speaking after Perez's win, Ellison made an appeal for unity.

"If we waste even a moment going at it over who supported who," the Guardian quoted Ellison as saying.

"Democrats would be letting down the American people in their need to confront Trump and beyond that," he added.