In a direct contradiction of the president, a US official stated Tuesday, “there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future.”
This follows President Trump’s social media post last week, where he claimed a Budapest summit would occur “within two weeks.” That post came after a phone call with Putin.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson echoed the US official, stating Tuesday that “no precise timeframe” has been set for a summit.
Trump’s announcement did spur a “productive” call on Monday between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
However, the anonymous administration official said that after this call, a separate in-person meeting between the diplomats was deemed “not necessary.” This reversal comes after Putin’s August visit to Alaska.