Trump postpones second meet with Putin until Russia probe has finished

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has announced he is calling off a second summit with Vladimir Putin until the investigation into Russian collusion is complete.

Mr Trump was planning to host the Russian leader at the White House in the autumn, a decision that was met with surprise by his own intelligence officials when it was announced last week.

The two leaders held their first one-to-one meeting in Helsinki earlier this month, and after the meeting Mr Trump was heavily criticised for failing to publicly condemn the Russian president for Kremlin interference in the US election.

The probe, which is being headed up by former FBI director Robert Mueller, is investigating potential links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Last week Mr Mueller’s team charged 13 Russian individuals and companies for attempting to sway the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Mr Trump and his allies claim that the investigation is motivated by political bias and often refer to it as a “witch hunt”.

John Bolton, Mr Trump’s national security adviser, said: “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,” he added.

It follows suggestions that Mr Putin did not think the time was right to hold a second meeting with Mr Trump.

Yuri Ushakov, a top Kremlin aide, told reporters that there are other potential venues for the two world leaders to meet in the near future, such as at the meeting with G20 leaders in Argentina that is set for November.

“After the (Helsinki) summit you know what kind of atmosphere there is around its outcome,” Mr Ushakov said.

“I think it would be wise to let the dust settle and then we can discuss all these questions in a business-like way. But not now,” he added.

In a further sign of tense relations between Washington and Moscow, the US government said that it would not accept Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a group of Republican

lawmakers has introduced articles of impeachment to remove Deputy US Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, escalating a fight over Mr Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

Representatives Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, who belong to the conservative House Freedom Caucus, joined nine other House members in accusing Mr Rosenstein of hiding investigative information from Congress, failure to comply with congressional subpoenas and other alleged misconduct.

Mr Rosenstein, the number two official at the Justice Department, has become a frequent ‘punch bag’ for Mr Trump supporters for appointing Mr

Mueller to investigate whether the president’s campaign colluded with Russia in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Mr Trump has denied such collusion took place.

Mr Rosenstein was appointed by Mr Trump.

But the Republican president has repeatedly criticised him on Twitter for his oversight of the Russia probe.

For Mr Rosenstein to be removed from office, a majority of the House must vote for the articles of impeachment, and then the Senate must convict him on a two-thirds vote.

Republicans control both chambers but have only a 51-49 edge in the Senate. (© Daily Telegraph London)