Farage hits out at WikiLeaks claims.

Byline: GAVIN CORDAN

NIGEL Farage is alleged to have had a series of secret meetings with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to evidence given to a US congressional inquiry.

The former Ukip leader is said to have passed a "thumb drive" containing data to Mr Assange during one of their sessions at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

The claims - made by the co-founder of the investigative firm behind the controversial "Trump dossier" into the US president's alleged links with Russia before he entered the White House - were dismissed by Mr Farage as "conspiratorial nonsense".

According to a transcript of his testimony released by the House Intelligence Committee, Fusion GPS boss Glenn Simpson claimed WikiLeaks was part of a "somewhat unacknowledged relationship" between the Trump team and the "Ukip people".

Mr Simpson was giving evidence about his firm's investigation into Mr Trump's affairs - initially on behalf of Republicans opposed to his nomination for the presidency and then later for a law firm acting for the Democrats.

Mr Simpson said while there had been media reports of one visit Mr Farage made to the Ecuadorian Embassy - where Mr Assange has been living since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden - he believed there had been further contacts between the two men.

"I've been told and have not confirmed that Nigel Farage had additional trips to the Ecuadorian Embassy than the one that's been in the papers and that he provided data to Julian Assange," he said.

Asked what kind of data, he replied: "A thumb drive."

In a brief, one-line statement, Mr Farage said: "This is conspiratorial nonsense."

WikiLeaks has previously been accused by Hillary Clinton of acting as a "fully owned subsidiary of Russian intelligence" after it published damaging emails, allegedly stolen by Russian operatives, during the 2016 presidential election campaign.