2016 ELECTION/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump plans to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington this autumn, the White House said on Thursday [7-19-18], four days after a summit that led to an uproar in the United States over Trump’s failure to publicly confront Putin for Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a Twitter post that Trump had directed national security adviser John Bolton to issue the invitation, even though U.S. lawmakers and top officials in Trump’s administration have not been briefed on what Trump and Putin discussed in Monday’s [7-16-18] summit with only interpreters present. Even Trump’s director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, said he did not know what happened in Helsinki…The coveted invitation to Washington was sure to be seen as a victory by Putin, whose last official visit to the United States was in July 2007, when he spent two days at the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Both Trump and Putin earlier on Thursday praised their first meeting as a success and blamed forces in the United States for trying to belittle its achievements. Despite the week’s furor, Trump also said he was looking forward to his second meeting with the Russian leader.”
-Steve Holland, Doina Chiacu, “Trump invites Putin to Washington despite U.S. uproar on Helsinki summit,” Reuters, July 19, 2018 6:39 pm