Republican National Committee spokesman and incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on a Friday conference call that there is “nothing scheduled” between President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin with regard to the Obama administration’s Thursday announcement of new sanctions against Russia.
“Does the President-elect have any plan to talk to Russian President Putin about what happened yesterday during the transition, or is that something that somebody else from the senior staff is going to do? Could you just tell us what the next step is in any kind of communication with Moscow?” Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked.
“There’s nothing scheduled for this time,” Spicer replied. “The priority right now is for the president to get an update next week from the intelligence committee.”
Spicer said that Trump plans to attend a New Year’s Eve event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida with his wife Melania Trump and their son Barron. The President-elect will return to New York for transition meetings on New Year’s Day.
In a statement Thursday evening presumably responding to the announcement of the sanctions, Trump said that it was “time for our country to move on to bigger and better things,” but that he “nevertheless” would “meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation.”