Sarah Sanders lashes out at Mueller's 'Witch Hunt Hoax' for undermining US relations with Russia

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday echoed President Donald Trump in attacking special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

In a statement provided to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, Sanders decried the "Russia Witch Hunt Hoax" and lamented how it was making it harder for the president to develop a good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Unfortunately, it probably does undermine our relationship with Russia," Sanders said, per Diamond. "However, the reason for our canceled meeting was Ukraine. Hopefully, that will be resolved soon so productive conversations can begin."

The Trump White House was rocked on Thursday when former "fixer" Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about key details of the Trump Tower Moscow deal that Trump pursued while he was running for president.

Trump on Friday hit back at the Mueller probe for its latest actions and called his efforts to deal with Russian officials while running for president "very legal and very cool."