RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House and the Kremlin are ‘exploring’ a possible meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a White House aide. Richard Hooker, a senior director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council, told the Russian news agency TASS Wednesday [6-13-18] that the idea is in the works, but he offered no specifics…The White House did not respond to requests about whether a meeting is being pursued. Talk of a Trump-Putin meeting — which would be sure to generate controversy in a Washington gripped by special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe — began when the two leaders spoke by phone on April 20. The Kremlin revealed that Putin and Trump had exchanged invitations for the other to visit their respective capitals. More recently, Putin has explored the possibility of a meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report. The paper reported that, during a June 5 visit to Vienna, Putin asked Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to host a meeting with Trump.”
-Rebecca Morin, “Trump aide says White House ‘exploring’ Trump-Putin meeting,” Politico, June 14, 2018 5:12 pm