In his phone call earlier this week, President Donald Trump told Russian leader Vladimir Putin that the two should meet soon, a comment that caught aides by surprise since proposing a meeting was not in the President’s briefing materials, the Washington Post reported Wednesday evening.
Trump said on Tuesday that he and Putin will “probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future to discuss the arms race,” but officials told the Washington Post that administration aides have not been instructed to prepare for any such meeting. Trump and Putin are not scheduled to be in the same place until November, according to the Washington Post.
The White House did not mention Trump’s proposal to meet Putin in its official readout of the call, and administration officials have opposed a bilateral meeting with the Russian president in the past, according to the Washington Post.
The President also ignored a warning not to congratulate Putin on his election victory, as the Post reported on Tuesday.
Read the Washington Post’e entire report here.
