--- title: White House Predicts Mueller Report Will Vindicate Trump description: A White House spokeswoman predicted that Robert Mueller's final report, which could be issued as early as next week, will vindicate the president. canonical: https://time.com/5535524/sarah-sanders-robert-mueller-report-collusion/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-22T16:46:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:50:29.496Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'There Was No Collusion.' Sarah Sanders Predicts Mueller Report Will Clear Trump og:description: "We feel good." og:url: https://time.com/5535524/sarah-sanders-robert-mueller-report-collusion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta58a1bb21445dd19/6989453e8fd2eea6ba35dccd/sarah-sanders-interviewed-by-mueller-investigation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3370 og:image:height: 1896 og:image:alt: sarah-sanders-interviewed-by-mueller-investigation og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'There Was No Collusion.' Sarah Sanders Predicts Mueller Report Will Clear Trump twitter:description: "We feel good." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta58a1bb21445dd19/6989453e8fd2eea6ba35dccd/sarah-sanders-interviewed-by-mueller-investigation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'There Was No Collusion.' 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 22, 2019 4:46 PM UTC  White House press secretary Sarah Sanders talks with reporters outside the White House in Washington on Feb. 15, 2019. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders talks with reporters outside the White House in Washington on Feb. 15, 2019. Carolyn Kaster—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 22, 2019 4:46 PM UTC A White House spokeswoman predicted that Robert Mueller’s final report, which could be issued as early as next week, will vindicate the president. “We feel good about the fact that what we’ve said all along for the last two years will be clear,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders [said on ‘Fox & Friends’](https://video.foxnews.com/v/6005716496001/?playlist%5Fid=930909787001#sp=show-clips) Friday morning. “There was no collusion.” “The idea that President Trump needed to collude with Russia in order to beat Hillary Clinton is frankly laughable,” Sanders continued. “He was an infinitely better candidate with a better message, and he outworked her. That’s why he won. It had nothing to do with Russia, or any other country for that matter. It had to do with the fact that he was simply better than she was.” Since Mueller was appointed special counsel nearly two years ago to investigate Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, he has indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies that we know of, including six former Trump advisers. [CNN first reported](https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/politics/special-counsel-conclusion-announcement/index.html) on Wednesday that Attorney General Bill Barr is preparing to announce the end of Mueller’s investigation as soon as next week. Sanders didn’t indicate whether the White House had received any word from the Justice Department about an imminent end to the investigation. “We’re seeing the same reports that you are that it’s possible that this is coming to a conclusion,” she said on Fox. Sanders also told reporters at the White House Friday morning that Trump is “following the proper process” by not calling for the public release of Mueller’s report, [according to CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/22/politics/sarah-sanders-robert-muller-investigation-conclusion/index.html?utm%5Fcontent=2019-02-22T15%3A54%3A01&utm%5Fsource=twCNNp&utm%5Fterm=image&utm%5Fmedium=social), because that decision is up to Barr. “If he did it the other way, you guys would go crazy saying ‘I can’t believe the president’s done this!’ I think it’s such a double standard. He’s following the process and we’ll see what happens,” Sanders said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5535524/sarah-sanders-robert-mueller-report-collusion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5535524/sarah-sanders-robert-mueller-report-collusion/"},"headline":"'There Was No Collusion.' 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