Trump Plans to Invite Putin to Washington, White House Says
President Donald Trump has requested for preparations to begin to have Russian leader Vladimir Putin be invited to the U.S. for a meeting this fall, according to the White House. The news was announced by White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday, July 19.
Sanders also took to social media on the same day to announce Trump's request. It turns out that the U.S. president has asked for the invite to be extended to Putin during their summit in Poland earlier this weekend.
"In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs," Sanders wrote.
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"President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway," she added, referring to National Security Advisor John Bolton.
This invitation came as President Trump faced backlash because of his comments during the joint press conference in Helsinki, where he seemingly discounted the findings by U.S. Intelligence regarding the possible Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.
Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, expressed disbelief upon hearing the news. "Say that again? Did I hear that?" Coats said, playing to an amused crowd after being informed of the announcement by Andrea Mitchell during an onstage interview in Colorado.
"OK. That is going to be special," he mused, as quoted by The Guardian. Coats was one of the members of the administration who issued a public statement in disapproval of Trump's comments in Helsinki.
He went on to recall his third visit to the Oval Office when he told the president that "there will be times I have to bring news to you that you don't want to hear," especially when it comes to the unbiased information that the intelligence community works to dig out.
As for Trump, he called the summit "a great success" in his recent tweet on Thursday.
