National security adviser Robert O’Brien said President Trump will not attend an in-person summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the United States before the November election.
“We’re not having a summit with Vladimir Putin before the election,” O’Brien told Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on Sunday.
“What Putin has floated is doing a P5 meeting with the P5 and Germany and Russia to try and bully the U.S. —” he added before Todd interrupted to ask, “So the U.S. doesn’t want something here?”
“No, we’ve rejected that, and it’s not just Russia,” O’Brien responded. “What the Russians are proposing is a summit with Russia, Germany, Iran, and the other P5 members to try and bully the U.S. back into this terrible JCPOA deal, which was the worst appeasement since Munich.”
WATCH: “At some time, we’d love to have Putin come here, hopefully, to sign a terrific arms control deal,” @robertcobrien says. #MTP pic.twitter.com/mPfLCT5qzM
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 16, 2020
Trump has floated the possibility of meeting with Putin before the Nov. 3 election, according to CNN. Sources told the outlet that the meeting is believed to have been Putin’s idea and was under consideration by Trump.
NBC News further reported on Sunday that the president has told aides he wants to hold an in-person summit with Putin ahead of the election and that officials have explored several times and locations, including next month in New York. The goal of the summit would be to announce a new nuclear arms control agreement between the countries.
“We’re not doing a meeting with Putin in the United States, but at some time, look, we’d love to have Putin come here to sign a terrific arms control deal that protects Americans and protects Russians,” O’Brien continued.
U.S. Special Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea is set to meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in Vienna on Monday to continue the next round of talks on an arms control agreement after initial negotiations in June.
“There is no current planning for a [one-on-one meeting] between President Trump and President Putin,” a White House official said. “We are negotiating on arms control. Hopefully, we can make some progress in Vienna next week. Getting ahead of the meetings next week would be premature.”
