President Trump's second meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been postponed until next year according to White House National Security Advisor John Bolton.
"The President believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we've agreed that it will be after the first of the year," Bolton told the White House press pool, referring to Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation into the 2016 presidential election.
President Trump met with Putin in Helsinki last week. Shortly after the meeting, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced planning for a meeting with Putin was already underway for the fall.
In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs. President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) July 19, 2018
The Russian government announced earlier this week Putin wasn't ready to accept an invitation from the White House to visit the U.S.
The Kremlin on Tuesday said Russian President Vladimir Putin does not think it's the right time to accept President Donald Trump's invitation to visit Washington, DC, this fall. It said the two sides need to "let the dust settle" from the recent Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki, Finland, according to Reuters.
Yesterday President Trump tweeted that he was concerned about Russian meddling in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections.
I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2018