• by
• Phillip Coorey
• John Kehoe

Donald Trump has again put the stability of the refugee deal with Australia under question describing it as 'dumb' in his latest tweet. 

In his most recent late night twitter rant the President of the United States blamed the deal on the Obama administration, telling his followers that he would study the 'dumb deal'. 

The development came after a battered Malcolm Turnbull insisted the refugee deal with the US would go ahead despite an explosive report that Mr Trump blasted him over the arrangement on Sunday before hanging up on him.

"This is not a deal that he would have done or that he would regard as a good deal," Mr Turnbull told 2GB.

"The question is will he commit to honour the deal and he has given that commitment."

In a dramatic development, which casts further doubt over whether the deal, in which the US would take 1250 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru, would be honoured, the Washington Post reported what appears to be a hostile conversation between the leaders.

During the phone call, Mr Trump said "this is the worst deal ever", complained that he was "going to get killed" politically and accused Australia of seeking to export the "next Boston bomber" the Post reports, following what appears to be a detailed briefing.

"At one point Trump informed Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day — including Russian President Vladi­mir Putin — and that, 'This was the worst call by far'," the paper says.

The exchange, one of, if not the most bitter between an Australian Prime Minister and a US President, ended when Mr Trump "abruptly" ended the call 25 minutes in.

The paper also says Mr Trump has left himself wriggle room to scrap the deal, saying he told Mr Turnbull it was only "my intention" to honour the deal.

'I'm not going to comment on these reports'

Questioned by reporters on Thursday, Mr Turnbull declined to comment on the report but insisted Mr Trump assured him the deal would be honoured.

He said Mr Trump had not hung up on him and he was "surprised and disappointed" it had been leaked.

"I can only say as I have said before that I received the assurance that I did from the President himself.

"That assurance was confirmed by the President's spokesman in the briefing room of the White House. And our respective officials, are continuing to work on the implementation of the arrangements. That's the position."

"These conversations are conducted candidly, frankly, privately. If you see reports of them, I'm not going to add to them."

Mr Turnbull insisted that the US-Australia relationship was very strong.

"I can assure you the relationship is very strong. The fact we received the assurance that we did, the fact that it was confirmed, the very extensive engagement we have with the new administration underlines the closeness of the alliance. But as Australians know me very well - I stand up for Australia in every forum - public or private."

In a bizarre day, the  White House and the State Department were at odds over whether the US President has agreed to honour the deal Mr Turnbull reached with Barack Obama.

The unique Australian arrangement jars against the contentious entry restrictions the President placed on all refugees, as well as immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries on the weekend.

A US State Department official confirmed in an email to The Australian Financial Review at 9:15am AEDT Thursday that the deal would proceed.

"Out of respect for close ties to our Australian ally and friend, we will honour the agreement to accept some refugees from resettlement centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Any refugees coming to US shores would only come to the United States in accordance with the recently signed executive order."

But as little as two hours earlier, a White House official told the ABC in a statement: "The President is still considering whether or not he will move forward with this deal at this time."

"He is considering doing it because of the long and good relationship we have with Australia."

Then, the US Embassy in Canberra confirmed the deal would be honoured.

"President Trump's decision to honour the refugee agreement has not changed and spokesman Spicer's comments stand. This was just reconfirmed to the State Department from the White House and on to this embassy at 1315 Canberra time," a spokesman said.

Michael Anton, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, also confirmed to the ABC and others that the President was still evaluating the agreement, the ABC reported.

The Washington Post says Mr Trump "continued to fume about the arrangement even after signing the order in a ceremony at the Pentagon".

"I don't want these people," Trump said.

"He repeatedly misstated the number of refugees called for in the agreement as 2,000 rather than 1,250, and told Turnbull that it was 'my intention' to honour the agreement, a phrase designed to leave the US president wiggle room to back out of the deal in the future, according to a senior US official," the Post says.

Labor leader Bill Shorten said the reported conversation, which senior sources have confirmed as accurate, was much different to the sanitised version Mr Turnbull gave on Monday.

"He made it clear that he had a constructive discussion and that the refugee deal, which Labor supports, was on track. But now it appears another different version of the same conversation has emerged," he aid.

"I just say to Turnbull," Talk straight to the Australian people. Tell us what's going on."