Trump delays proposed Putin meeting until 2019

U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed Washington, D.C., meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been delayed until 2019. National security adviser John Bolton, in a statement Wednesday, cited special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election as the reason. “The president believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over,” Bolton said, “so we’ve agreed that it will be after the first of the year.”

Trump proposed the invitation last week amid backlash over his comments at meetings with Putin in Helsinki. On Tuesday, congressional Republican leaders said that the Russian president is not welcome on Capitol Hill. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Putin would not address Congress because “that is something we reserve for allies.” Russian foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov had already tossed cold water on the idea, telling journalists in Moscow that there were “other options that our leaders could consider.”