Trump: ‘We may have a meeting with Putin’ during Asia trip

by Brooke Seipel - 11/03/17 7:15 AM ET

President Trump says he might meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his 12-day Asia trip this month.

Asked by Fox News host Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle” whether he will speak with Putin on the trip, Trump said, “We may have a meeting with Putin. And, again — Putin is very important because they can help us with North Korea.”

Trump leaves Friday to travel to China, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea as part of the 12-day trip.

The White House has not announced any plans for Trump to meet with Putin, and Russia is not on the list of countries he will be visiting. Trump is expected to attend multiple economic gatherings and international summits during his visit and the White House announced in October that Trump will meet with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Trump and Duterte’s sit-down will be one of the most-watched events of his 12-day trip to Asia, his first visit to the region as president. {mosads}

He will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in during trips to their respective countries.

The meetings will likely focus on Trump’s efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear program. His decision to scrap a Pacific Rim trade deal negotiated by the Obama administration will also be a major topic.

Trump and Putin met in July during the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. The bilateral meeting reportedly lasted for more than two hours, rather than the 30 minutes it had been scheduled for.

The meeting was strictly limited in its participants, with only Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and two interpreters allowed in the room.

The bilateral meeting — the first between the two leaders — was closely watched in the U.S. Trump is facing numerous investigations back in Washington into Russia’s role in the 2016 election, as well as possible coordination between his campaign and Russia.

Tags Donald Trump Rex Tillerson Vladimir Putin