Hillary Clinton said that "most serious people understand" there is a difference between her campaign team paying for opposition research versus President Trump's people working with the Russians to influence the 2016 election.

She was asked about it during an interview for Wednesday's episode of "The Daily Show," where host Trevor Noah referred to the right-wing "narrative" surrounding the "Clinton dossier," giving the impression that Clinton sought information to smear her political opponent.

News broke last month that Clinton's campaign's lawyer, Mark Elias, who also represented the Democratic National Committee, retained Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research. However, Democrats, including Clinton officials, deny having any direct connection to Fusion GPS hiring former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who then authored the so-called "Trump dossier" tying Trump directly to the Russians. Much of that document remains unverified.

Meanwhile, Trump's campaign is being investigated for possible collusion with the Kremlin, though Trump says the whole Russia inquiry is a "witch hunt."

Clinton told Noah "of course there is" a difference.

"I think most serious people understand that," she added. "This was research started by a Republican donor during the Republican primary and then when Trump got the nomination for the Republican Party, the people doing it came to my campaign lawyer and said, 'Would you like us to continue it?' And he said, 'Yes.'"

Tonight at 11/10c, Trevor and Hillary Clinton discuss the Steele dossier and Trump's ties to Russia. pic.twitter.com/dxJoAPTj8D— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) November 1, 2017



The "Republican donor" was revealed to be the conservative Washington Free Beacon, the Washington Examiner reported last week.

Clinton went on to defend Elias as an "experienced lawyer."

"He knows what the law is. He knows what opposition research is," she added.