Story highlights Tillerson said the Russia investigation hasn't impacted work with Russian counterparts

He said he hopes Russia doesn't try to interfere in 2018 midterms

The secretary of state spoke to CNN in an exclusive interview

Washington (CNN) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the ongoing investigation into alleged cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia has had no impact on his work with overseas counterparts.

"It has had no impact," Tillerson said in an exclusive interview with CNN's Elise Labott Friday. "I'll say that it's had none."

That contradicts President Donald Trump, who told The New York Times last month that the investigation "makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position."

Tillerson elaborated: "It never comes up in our conversations or in my bilats or my dialogues with world leaders elsewhere."

"The domestic issues around the Russia involvement in our elections are not part of our dialogue elsewhere," he said. "I think the rest of the world recognizes it is a domestic issue, it's an important one."

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