Spending money on Russia probe a waste: White House

By Safvan Allahverdi

WASHINGTON (AA) - The White House on Friday denied allegations of collusion with Russia, saying spending money to investigate it is a waste of time.

“Congress has spent a great deal of time on this, a better part of this year,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters during a White House press briefing.

“All of your news organizations have probably spent a lot of money on this as well, which we would consider probably a pretty big waste. I think that our position hasn't changed since day one,” she added.

Earlier this year, former FBI Director Robert Mueller was appointed to serve as a special counsel for the FBI’s ongoing probe into Russia and the Donald Trump campaign's alleged meddling in last year's presidential election a week after Trump's decision to fire then FBI Director James Comey in connection with the Russia investigation.

Comey’s firing amid an ongoing FBI probe into whether Trump campaign associates colluded with Russia in last year's election prompted many, including from within his own party, to question his rationale.

President Donald Trump on Friday repeatedly rejected the accusations, saying there was no collusion between him and the Kremlin.

“It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC! (Hillary Clinton),” Trump said on Twitter.

Sanders said while the investigations are focused on whether Trump has colluded with Russia, it seems as if there was collusion between the Democrats and Russia.

“I think we are seeing now that if there was any collusion with Russia, it was between the DNC and the Clintons, and certainly not our campaign,” she added, referring to the Democratic National Committee and Hillary and Bill Clinton.