Trump's Remark to Putin that they Could Meet soon Caught White House Advisers by Surprise

Chicago Trubune - President Donald Trump's senior advisers were thrown when he told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that he expected to meet with him soon, as briefings before the call to Moscow included no mention of a possible meeting, and aides have not been instructed to prepare for one, senior administration officials said.

Although Trump told reporters that "probably, we'll be seeing President Putin in the not-too-distant future," several officials said there are no plans for the two even to be in the same country until November, when both are expected to attend a Group of 20 summit in Argentina.

Amid criticism by some lawmakers of his congratulatory call to Putin, whose 76 percent win in the Russian election Sunday was denounced as a "sham" by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., Trump tweeted Wednesday that "Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing" and said that Moscow could help the United States solve a range of international problems.

Referring to his immediate three predecessors in office, Trump said that George W. Bush didn't have the "smarts" to get along with the Russians, and that Barack Obama and Bill Clinton "didn't have the energy or the chemistry."

Trump's briefing materials for the Putin call, placed in a binder by the staff secretary's office for Trump's review, did not include any reference to a meeting, and specifically warned against congratulating the Russian president, said a person with direct knowledge who, like other officials, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.

Senior White House officials have previously opposed a bilateral meeting with the Russian president.

Hours before the White House even acknowledged Trump had spoken to Putin, the Kremlin put its own spin on the call, saying that Trump had called to congratulate Putin and that "special attention was paid to making progress on the question of holding a possible meeting at the highest level."

The Russian statement forced the hand of the White House, where advisers had disagreed on whether to include Trump's congratulations in the official U.S. account, two people familiar with the conversation said. When the official White House readout of the call emerged several hours later, it said Trump congratulated Putin but made no mention of a discussion of a meeting.

The call to Putin was the second time this month that Trump has made an impromptu announcement that he planned to meet with a foreign leader, although his March 8 decision to hold talks with North Korea's Kim Jong-un appeared to carry more weight and has sparked a flurry of internal planning.

Both moves bore the hallmarks of an emboldened president who appears increasingly comfortable in disregarding the advice of his most senior advisers, and facing off with the most implacable U.S. foes, regardless of the potential risks.

"No one was planning on a meeting with Putin at this point, given all the questions about continuing Russian interference in our elections and the ongoing Mueller probe, never mind the ... poisoning" of a former Russian double-agent this month in Britain, said Angela Stent, a former national intelligence officer with a focus on Russia in the administration of President George W. Bush. "This shows that Trump continues to believe that he can make a 'deal' with Putin and is unconstrained by his advisers who have been arguing for restraint and caution."

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