President Donald Trump has instructed his national security adviser, John Bolton, to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington D.C. sometime this fall for a second summit between the two leaders.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted on Thursday that “discussions are already underway” for the next summit.
“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,” Sanders wrote.
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
Trump, who has continued to face backlash for his failure to confront Russia about their interference in the 2016 presidential election at the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki, went on to criticize the news media. He accused the media of distorting his comments regarding his belief of Putin’s denials that Russia interfered, despite the fact that the U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia did influence the election.
“The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
“I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more,” Trump wrote. “There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems…but they can ALL be solved!”
The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear……..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018
….proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more. There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems…but they can ALL be solved!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018
The announcement of the plans for a second summit comes just hours after Sanders released a statement Thursday that the president now “disagrees” with Putin’s proposal for Russian investigators to interrogate Americans, ABC News reports.
At the summit, Putin said that Russian investigators should be able to question Americans in return for allowing Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team to work with Russian investigators to question the 12 Russians recently indicted in the Russia investigation.
During the joint press conference between Trump and Putin, Trump called the proposal an “incredible offer.”
Following the summit, Putin has blamed forces in the U.S. for hampering the success of the two leaders’ meeting, but said the two leaders have begun working together nonetheless to improve relations between the U.S. and Russia, The Huffington Post reports.
Putin told Russian diplomats that the summit had been successful.
“It was successful overall and led to some useful agreements. Of course, let’s see how events will develop further,” Putin said, but did not refer to what those specific agreements were.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement, demanding that lawmakers be told more about what was said between Trump and Putin during the meeting in Helsinki, ABC News reports.
“Until we know what happened at that two-hour meeting in Helsinki, the president should have no more one-on-one interactions with Putin. In the United States, in Russia, or anywhere else,” Schumer said.