Trump willing to invite Putin to White House, but not now

Accusations that Moscow meddled in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign have dominated Trump's first months in office.

Aris, July 14: US President Donald Trump said he would invite Vladimir Putin despite controversy over the country's involvement in the 2016 US election but added that now was not the right time for that.

During a conversation aboard Air Force One flying into Paris, Trump said he was willing to engage the Russian leader despite controversy over the country's involvement in the 2016 US election.

Asked whether he would invite Putin to the White House, Trump said that he would "at the right time. I don't think this is the right time, but the answer is yes, I would."

Accusations that Moscow meddled in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign have dominated Trump's first months in office.

Trump's comments came as he defended his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign after he was told she might have damaging information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Trump claims that he did not know about his son's meeting until recently. But in a conversation with reporters, Trump said that "in fact maybe it was mentioned at some point," adding he was not told it was about Clinton.

PTI