President Donald Trump still believes that the "costly" Russia probes have proved no collusion between his campaign and Moscow — and "if there was any collusion with Russia, it was between the DNC and the Clintons," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday.
"The president has been pretty clear about this investigation throughout this process," Sanders told reporters at the daily briefing, referring to the probe headed by special counsel Robert Mueller. "It's not only the investigation that's taking place.
"Congress has spent a great deal of time of this, a better part of this year.
"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.
"Our position hasn't changed since day one," she said. "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."
President Trump tweeted earlier Friday that the Russia probes have been "costly" and they have proven "no collusion between Russia and Trump," but with Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee picked up the financing for the unsubstantiated Moscow dossier after the initial Republican funder stopped paying an opposition-research company for its work.
CNN reported Thursday that John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman, and former Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz denied to Congress that they knew about payments to the firm, Fusion GPS, for the dossier.
On another issue linked to Clinton, Sanders said that "there is a lot of cause for concern" about the 2010 sale of Uranium One to Russia approved by her State Department and other Obama administration officials.
"We certainly think it should be looked into," Sanders said.
Under the deal, the Canada-based Uranium One was sold to Moscow's Atomic Energy Agency, Rosatom. This agreement had been approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
The panel included representatives from several U.S. government agencies, including the State Department, which was led by Clinton.
The sale gave Rosatom control of more than 20 percent of the uranium supply in the United States.
Trump slammed the media on Twitter last week for not fully covering Clinton's ties to the sale:
The Justice Department on Wednesday allowed an undercover FBI informant linked to a probe into Moscow's efforts to gain influence in the U.S. uranium industry during the Obama years to testify to Congress.
President Trump had directed his staff to cooperate with Justice in getting the "gag order" lifted on the informant.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on the agency to permit the informant to testify.
Sanders said of Trump's role: "The president has pushed for transparency … when dealing with Congress.
"I know that's something new for a president to push for transparency, but that's what he has done — and that was the purpose of what he was trying to do."
Sanders also said that the White House would examine the audit being completed by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general into a $300 million contract awarded to a small Montana company to restore Puerto Rico's power after Hurricane Maria.
The award to Whitefish Energy Holdings, based in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown of Whitefish, was awarded by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.
The two-year-old company had just two full-time employees when the storm hit last month.
"This is a contract that was determined by the local authorities in Puerto Rico," Sanders said. "It's not something that the federal government played a role in.
"But, as we understand, there is an ongoing audit — and we'll look forward to seeing the results of that later."
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