“... All they’ve done is ... [show] more and more that there was no connection between the Trump campaign and collusion with Russia,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. | Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Sanders: Trump isn't considering defunding Mueller probe Sanders said the probe has bolstered the White House’s position.

President Donald Trump is not considering trying to defund the investigation into the 2016 election led by special counsel Robert Mueller, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday, a step that former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has advocated.

On the contrary, Sanders said the probe, tasked in part with investigating whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, has bolstered the White House’s position.


“I'm not sure what we’d push back against since so far all they’ve done is come up with ways and shown more and more that there was no connection between the Trump campaign and collusion with Russia,” Sanders said.

Defunding the special counsel’s investigation would offer Trump an avenue to diffuse it without firing Mueller. Trump has regularly characterized Mueller’s probe as a “witch hunt” fueled by Democrats eager for an excuse to explain away their surprise defeat in last year’s election.

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Despite the president’s criticism, Mueller’s investigation took a major step this week, going public with its first set of indictments, including against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Mueller’s team also revealed that former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his interactions with Russian-connected contacts offering “dirt” on Democrat Hillary Clinton.

