Trump abruptly postponed meeting with Putin until next year.
(Baonghean.vn) - On July 25, US National Security Advisor John Bolton announced that President Donald Trump would postpone his second meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin until next year, following the conclusion of the federal investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the election.
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| US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Reuters |
Last week, Trump said he would invite Putin to Washington for a meeting this fall. This was seen as a bold rejection of the fierce criticism surrounding the Helsinki summit, where Trump appeared to believe the Russian leader's assertion that Moscow did not interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.
This invitation sparked a new wave of opposition, including from lawmakers within Trump's Republican party, who argued that Putin was an unworthy enemy to visit the White House and that they still didn't know what the two leaders discussed during their two-hour one-on-one meeting.
“President Trump believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russian witch hunt is over, so we agreed that it will take place next year,” Bolton said in a statement.
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow interfered to change votes in favor of Trump, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians.
Trump dismissed criticism that arose after his joint press conference with Putin in Helsinki, claiming he had misspoken several times during the summit. Then, the American leader abruptly extended an invitation to Putin.
Reflecting discontent within the U.S. legislature, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on July 24 that Putin would not be invited to speak at Congress or visit Capitol Hill if he accepted Trump's invitation.
The Kremlin said this week that while Washington and Moscow agree on the need for another Trump-Putin meeting, Russia has not yet begun any practical preparations for a new encounter.
"There are many other meeting options that our leaders could consider," aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, citing the G20 leaders' meeting in Argentina which opens at the end of November.
Trump has repeatedly called the investigation into alleged interference in the 2016 election a "witch hunt," a statement he reiterated in a tweet on the day he met with Putin in Helsinki.
