Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin 'smiled' during a telephone conversation as they talked about allegations that the U.S. president's campaign was involved in a conspiracy to interfere in the 2016 election.

'He actually sort of smiled when he said something to the effect that "it started off as a mountain and it ended up being a mouse," 'Trump said. 'But he knew that because he knew there was to no collusion whatsoever.'

The U.S. president admitted that he did not tell Putin not to meddle in the next election, despite White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders' earlier claim that Trump is 'looking at ways to actually prevent it' unlike his predecessor.

'We didn't discuss that,' he told a reporter as he met with Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini in the Oval Office.

At the White House later, DailyMail.com pressed Sarah Sanders, the president's spokeswoman, to explain why Trump declined to tell his Russian counterpart to not interfere in the next election.

'The president's made clear to everybody: every person that's not an American person has no business in our election. We've said it a lot, and we're actually doing things to prevent everybody from meddling in our election. Something the other administration failed to do,' she claimed.

Sanders said, 'Let's not forget that any interference in any election didn't take place under this president, it took place under President Obama. We're actually taking steps to stop it and make sure that it doesn't happen again.'

Pressed to explain why he did not tell Putin that during the call, she replied, before walking away, 'The president's been clear that no one needs to meddle in our election. He doesn't need to do that every two seconds.'

Earlier in the day, Sanders told press that Trump and Putin discussed the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference 'very briefly' in an early morning call she waited to disclose to reporters until just before noon.

She would not say who initiated the contact that came amid an uprising in Venezuela but confirmed that the two leaders spoke for 'a little over an hour' on Friday and the special counsel investigation was among the topics.

'Very, very, briefly it was discussed, essentially in the context of its over, and there was no collusion, which I'm pretty sure both leaders were well aware of long before this call,' she told White House press.

President Trump described it as a 'long and very good conversation' in a tweet later.

'As I have always said, long before the Witch Hunt started, getting along with Russia, China, and everyone is a good thing, not a bad thing,' he announced.

He said they discussed '“Russian Hoax" ' during the call, using a nickname he gave the probe over allegations he participated in election interference.

It was the rival presidents' first conversation since the conclusion of the special counsel investigation. Robert Mueller's report found that no one in the Trump campaign was involved in the Kremlin's plot to disrupt the American presidential election in 2016.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says Presidents Trump and Putin discussed election meddling and the Mueller report in an early morning call

President Trump described it as a 'long and very good conversation' in a tweet later

Mueller did not arrive a verdict on whether Trump obstructed justice in 10 instances outlined in the report. A meeting he had with Russian officials at the White House the day after he fired James Comey as FBI director was described in one of them.

'The day after firing Comey, the president told Russian officials that he had "Faced great pressure because of Russia," which had been "taken off" by Comey's firing,' the report says.

Sanders told reporters waiting for her after a television hit on the White House drive that Trump and Putin had a 'very good discussion' in a Friday morning call about nuclear agreements, trade and conflicts in North Korea, Ukraine and Venezuela.

She said it was 'overall a very positive conversation' that ran a gamut of topics.

Trump's top spokeswoman revealed that the leaders discussed extending an existing nuclear agreement and the possibility of a new nuclear deal that includes China.

Sanders told reporters waiting for her after a television hit on the White House drive that Trump and Putin had a 'very good discussion' in a Friday morning call

The White House spokeswoman insisted to press that the Trump administration is taking aggressive steps to prevent future election meddling by Russia

She said the call was mainly about Venezuela, and the 'focus was on helping the people and the importance of making sure they get food and medical supplies' during a standoff between opposition party activists and Nicolas Maduro's government.

But the Mueller probe also came up during the call, she admitted, providing little additional detail on the nature of the discussion.

The White House spokeswoman insisted to press that the Trump administration is taking aggressive steps to prevent future election meddling by Russia.

'This administration, unlike the previous one, takes election meddling seriously,' she charged, 'and we're going to do everything that we can to prevent that from happening.'

She said Trump is 'looking at ways to actually prevent it from taking place, instead of what they did in 2016, just letting it happen, knowing about it and doing nothing, and then trying to blame it on the incoming administration.'

She had no future summit to preview between Trump and Putin, after the U.S. president cancelled the last one abruptly. She revealed that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be meeting with the Russian foreign affairs minister next week.

'I'm not aware of any plan upcoming for the two presidents,' she said.