President Trump does not think a war of words with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be productive, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday.
“He doesn’t think that it’s helpful for him to get into a back-and-forth argument with Vladimir Putin,” Sanders told reporters at the White House. “But he does think there are places where we can work with Russia.”
Trump took criticism last week after he emerged from a series of brief, informal conversations with Putin on the sidelines of a trade summit in Vietnam and said he believed Putin sincerely meant it when he said Russia did not meddle in the U.S. election.
The White House decided shortly before the trade summit that Trump would not sit down with Putin for a bilateral meeting, citing a scheduling conflict.
“The president still firmly believes that there was collusion with the Democrats during this election process,” Sanders said of Russia.
But she insisted Trump felt that a dispute with Putin over the veracity of his denials could hinder cooperation with Moscow on areas such as North Korea and Syria.
“He’s not going to get into the back and forth with a world leader that he needs to work with,” Sanders said.
