ON THE OFFENSIVE: WH alleges DNC, Clintons caught in ‘collusion’

The White House went on offense Wednesday amid the firestorm over Donald Trump Jr.’s campaign-season meeting with a Russian lawyer, trying to turn the tables by alleging the Democratic National Committee and the Clintons are the ones caught up in “collusion.”

The White House has been grappling all week with revelations of a meeting the president’s eldest son held last year with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was said to have dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of a Russian government effort to help the Trump campaign.

But Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders used Wednesday’s off-camera briefing to highlight DNC and Clinton ties to foreign governments including Russia and Ukraine.

“If we’re looking at Russia relationships with anybody, it would be directly with the Clintons,” she said, citing examples of a speech former President Bill Clinton gave in Russia for which he reportedly earned over $500,000 and reports of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton selling what Sanders described as “a third of the world’s uranium” to Russia.

Putting more distance between himself and Russia, even on the heels of a meeting with Vladimir Putin, President Trump also said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network set to air Thursday that he believes there are “many reasons” Putin would prefer Hillary Clinton in office over him.

“We are the most powerful country in the world and we are getting more and more powerful because I’m a big military person. As an example, if Hillary had won, our military would be decimated. Our energy would be much more expensive. That’s what Putin doesn’t like about me. And that’s why I say why would he want me?” Trump said.

Meanwhile, Sanders drew attention Wednesday to other alleged examples of Democratic coordination with a foreign government.

“If there’s been any evidence of collusion in 2016 actually happening, it would have been between the DNC and the Ukrainian government,” Sanders said.

Sanders was referring to a Politico report published in January. The report cited a meeting between Ukrainian government officials who allegedly tried to help Clinton undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office and shared research and damaging information on Trump and his advisers with Clinton allies.

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