(CNN) -- The White House strongly suggested Monday that Donald Trump was the beneficiary of Russian meddling in the US election, saying it was the President-elect who praised Vladimir Putin on the campaign trail.

"The emails that had been hacked and leaked by the Russians, these were emails from the (Democratic National Committee) and John Podesta, not from the (Republican National Committee) and Stephen Bannon," said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. "It was the President-elect who over the course of the campaign indicated that he thought that President Putin was a strong leader," Earnest added.

He said members of Congress should "spare us the hand-wringing" and move forward with investigating Russian ties to the election.

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