National security adviser John Bolton expects President Trump will bring up Russian meddling in U.S. elections during an upcoming meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Trump and Putin are set to meet in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16. Critics have charged that the White House is too cozy with Russia at a time when special counsel Robert Mueller is scrutinizing connections between former Trump campaign officials and the Kremlin. The administration has imposed a number of sanctions on top Russian executives with ties to Putin.
Trump has also faced criticism for failing to publicly acknowledge Russian influence in the 2016 election. Bolton said the president would likely bring up concerns during the upcoming meeting.
“I think the president will want to have a conversation about this and say, ‘We don’t want to see meddling in the 2018 election,'” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Bolton’s comments echo that of Trump, who said Friday that he will bring up election meddling to Putin during their summit.
Bolton added that the meeting would allow Trump and Putin to circumvent the “political noise” regarding Russian collusion in most recent presidential elections. He also defended the summit and said the rational is to let the two leaders “discuss these issues and see exactly where there might be room for progress, or where they might find there’s no room at all.”
