(RNN) – A proposed upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the White House has been pushed back until 2019.
National security adviser John Bolton announced the scheduling change Wednesday, citing special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
"The President believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we’ve agreed that it will be after the first of the year," Bolton said, as reported by CNBC and multiple other outlets.
Mueller has not given a timeline for completing his investigation.
Trump had asked Bolton to invite Putin to Washington in the fall, following a summit last week between the two leaders in Helsinki, Finland.
That event was met with widespread criticism over Trump's performance during a joint press conference with Putin, which followed a private meeting between the two presidents.
In that conference, Trump seemed to agree with Putin's assertion that the Russian government hadn't interfered with U.S. elections, despite the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies to the contrary.
The White House has since made various attempts to dispel the notion that Trump had allied himself too closely with the Russian leader.
The Russian government has not announced whether Putin has accepted an invitation for a second bilateral meeting.
Some members of Congress have objected to the proposed second meeting between the two.
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