WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's proposed meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the White House this fall has been delayed until 2019.
"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," National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a statement.
The news comes after Bolton was directed by Trump to invite Putin to Washington this fall amid backlash over the news conference held by the two leaders in Helsinki, Finland.
Trump and Putin met in Finland on July 16 for a more than 2-hour summit in which charges that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election took center stage.
During that meeting, Putin offered to let American officials watch Russian authorities question the 12 Russian military officers indicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
In exchange, Russia would want to interrogate US citizens accused of unspecified crimes.
The White House released a statement saying that Trump "disagrees" with Putin's proposal.
"Hopefully, President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.