The White House denied Thursday that President Trump has ordered Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE to investigate Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Warning signs flash for Lindsey Graham in South Carolina MORE or other Democrats despite telling reporters earlier this month that “they should be looking at the Democrats.”

“The president hasn’t directed any investigation or the appointment of a special counsel,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during Thursday’s press briefing, the administration’s first since Trump returned from his 12-day trip to Asia.

“In fact, he said publicly that he hasn’t been involved with that and that’s entirely up to the Department of Justice,” she said.

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Trump has repeatedly called for investigations into various aspects of the former Democratic presidential nominee’s foundation and tenure at the State Department.

“Hopefully they are doing something. At some point maybe we’re going to all have it out,” Trump said regarding Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations of Clinton during an interview this month on WMAL.

"The saddest thing is, because I'm the president of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved in the Justice Department. I am not supposed to be involved in the FBI. I'm not supposed to be doing the kind of things that I would love to be doing, and I'm very frustrated by it," he added.

Shortly before his Asia trip, Trump blasted the Justice Department for not looking into Clinton and the Democratic Party amid recent news stories about issues including a uranium deal approved by the Obama administration that has been a recent source of conservative suspicion and frustration.

Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn't looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017

...New Donna B book says she paid for and stole the Dem Primary. What about the deleted E-mails, Uranium, Podesta, the Server, plus, plus... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017

....People are angry. At some point the Justice Department, and the FBI, must do what is right and proper. The American public deserves it! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017

Trump made similar comments to reporters outside the White House that same day.

"I’m really not involved with the Justice Department. I’d like to let it run itself, but honestly, they should be looking at the Democrats," he said.

Critics pointed to those tweets and remarks to accuse Trump of attempting to influence the agency.

On Wednesday, Clinton responded, saying it would be “such an abuse of power” for a president to direct the DOJ to investigate one of his political opponents.

"I regret if they do it because it will be such a disastrous step into politicizing the justice system," she said during an interview with Mother Jones. "If they send a signal that we’re going to be like some dictatorship, like some authoritarian regime, where political opponents are going to be unfairly, fraudulently investigated, that rips at the fabric of the contract we have, that we can trust our justice system."

During an appearance on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushed back on calls for a special counsel probe, saying that while the DOJ has asked prosecutors to look into various allegations against Clinton, it would take “a factual basis that meets the standard of a special counsel” for him to support one.

Sanders also addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most recent denial of any meddling in the 2016 presidential election, made to Trump during a meeting in Vietnam.

“The president still firmly believes there was collusion with Democrats during this election process but again, he’s not going to get into the back and forth with a world leader he needs to work with and wants to work with,” Sanders said.