DA NANG, Vietnam_The White House announced Friday that President Donald Trump would not hold an official meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday, though press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said an informal pull-aside is "certainly possible and likely."
Any meeting with Putin could attract unwanted attention to a White House that is dealing with the intensifying investigation over potential collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and the Russian government.
Trump said on his way to Asia last week that he "expected" to meet with the Russian leader during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam. A Putin aide told Russian media that the meeting was confirmed.
However, Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday that no meeting had been confirmed, citing "scheduling conflicts on both sides."
"Now, they're going to be in the same place," she added. "Are they going to bump into each other and say hello? Certainly possible and likely. But in terms of a scheduled, formal meeting, there's not one on the calendar and we don't anticipate that there will be one."
