TRUMP DISCUSSED WHITE HOUSE INVITATION TO PUTIN

President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin discussed holding a summit at the White House, a Trump spokeswoman said after the Kremlin revealed the U.S. president had invited the Russian leader to Washington.

“When our presidents spoke on the phone, Trump suggested having the meeting in Washington at the White House,” Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Monday. “This is quite an interesting, positive idea.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said later that the two leaders had discussed a meeting “at a number of potential venues, including the White House.”

The two sides have had no preparatory conversations since the March 20 call in which the leaders discussed the idea because of their titfor-tat expulsions of diplomats over the poisoning of a former spy in the U.K., Ushakov said.

The prospect of Putin visiting Washington is likely to sharpen divisions in the U.S. over relations with Russia amid continued tensions regarding alleged Kremlin meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Russia denies meddling.

Trump had told reporters he discussed a potential summit with Putin shortly after the phone call but neither he nor Sanders disclosed that an invitation to the White House was under consideration until the Kremlin revealed it Monday.