Don invites Vlad to D.C. despite probe

President Trump has formally invited Vladimir Putin to Washington, national security adviser John Bolton announced Friday, paving way for a high-profile sit-down with the leader suspected of ordering the hacking of the 2016 presidential election.

Bolton, who’s traveling through Eastern Europe, confirmed the invitation at a news conference in Tiblisi, the capital of Georgia.

“We have invited President Putin to Washington after the first of the year for basically a full day of consultations,” Bolton told reporters.

Bolton said a date has not been set and Putin has not publicly accepted the invite. A Kremlin spokesman did not return a request for comment.

Putin (photo) and Trump are also expected to meet on the sidelines of a Paris event next month marking the 100th anniversary of World War I’s end.

The outreach to the Russian leader comes even though Trump’s presidential campaign remains under investigation over potential collusion with the Kremlin during the election.

Special counsel Robert Mueller, whose investigation has produced scores of indictments against Russian operatives and Trump associates, is expected to deliver key findings after next month’s congressional midterm elections.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is separately investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump faced international backlash after he refused to hold Putin accountable for the Russian government’s meddling in U.S. elections during a joint press conference in Helsinki, Finland, in July.

Breaking with the consensus of his own intelligence community, Trump said he found Putin’s denial “incredibly powerful” and claimed he hadn’t seen “any reason” why the Kremlin would have attacked the U.S. election.