Pompeo Hints at Trump-Putin Summit in the ‘Not-too-distant Future’

Saturday on MSNBC’s “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked about the possibilities of a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Pompeo said there were some efforts underway for in-person communication between U.S. and Russian official and said he thought it was “likely” Trump and Putin would meet in the future.

Partial transcript as follows:

HEWITT: Are you going to go to Moscow this summer?

POMPEO: You know, I don’t know if I’ll be heading to Moscow. I’ll meet with my Russian counterpart somewhere I’m sure. I’ve spoken to Sergei Lavrov a couple of times already as the Secretary of State, good conversations, each of us expressing our displeasure with each other for various things, all the while making sure that the things that matter most in America, right? You can’t mess around in American elections. Some of the behaviors that they’re undertaking in places like Syria and Ukraine are just, they’re not helpful. They’re not constructive towards the value set that Americans hold dear. And those places, we’ll continue to work to make sure they know our interests and our concerns. And then where there’s places we can’t find common ground, we’ll certainly try and do that.

HEWITT: Should we be surprised if President Trump is in Moscow this summer?

POMPEO: You know, I don’t know what the President’s schedule’s going to be. I know Ambassador Bolton’s planning to travel to Moscow on Sunday or Monday. He’ll be meeting with his counterpart. And I think it’s likely that President Trump will be meeting with his counterpart in the not-too-distant future following that meeting.

HEWITT: Interesting.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor