Trump delays Putin visit following harsh criticism – Reuters

As reported by Reuters, US President Donald Trump has pushed back an invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to come visit the US this autumn until the end of a probe into Russian election meddling, according to national security adviser John Bolton. The move comes after severe backlash against Trump from within his own government over the Trump-Putin summit that happened in Helsinki recently, while Russia has already stated that it is not yet ready to accept such an invite.

Key quotes

“The invitation sparked a new outcry, including from lawmakers in Trump’s Republican party, who argued that Putin is an adversary not worthy of a White House visit and that they still did not know what the leaders had discussed during their two-hour, one-on-one meeting.

“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 said in a statement.

Reflecting the unease among U.S. lawmakers, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that Putin would not be invited to address Congress or visit the Capitol if he accepted Trump’s invitation.

The Kremlin said this week that although Washington and Moscow agreed there was a need for another Putin-Trump meeting, Russia had not yet begun any practical preparations for a new meeting.