State Dept. Spox on Trump-Putin Meeting: ‘We Don’t Have Anything Fixed on the Schedule’

‘We don’t have anything fixed on the schedule just yet’

EXCERPT:

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TRUMP: "China can fix this problem easily and quickly, and I am calling on China and your great president to hopefully work on it very hard."
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HEMMER: "President Trump in China moments ago there cranking up the pressure on Beijing to crack down on North Korea. This is the centerpiece of the meeting in China and really an important point for this entire trip. The other big issue in China is all about trade which was prominent during the campaign last year. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, former colleague of ours here. And now she's moved on to the next chapter in her life. Thanks for making time for us and --"
NAUERT: "Hi, Bill, great to see you." 
HEMMER: "-- welcome to here to 'America’s Newsroom'."
NAUERT: "Thank you."
HEMMER: "You as well. The Russians are saying Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet tomorrow in Vietnam. Is that the case?"
NAUERT: "Well we don’t have anything fixed on the schedule just yet; that is a possibility. Usually when we schedule these things there are set meetings. This is not a set meeting. It could be a pull aside. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke to us last evening hour time, which he said, look, if there is something useful that we can have a conversation with Russia about we may go about doing that. A couple of areas that we’re looking for assistance with Russia. One would be on this issue of North Korea. They signed on to U.N. Security Council two rounds of sanctions against North Korea. Is Russia willing to do more with our maximum pressure campaign to get North Korea to denuclearize? Second issue is Syria. And this is where, you know we don't agree with Russia on a ton of things, but it is an area of agreement and that is fighting ISIS. We have an area in Syria that has had a cease-fire that's held for the most part since July. The U.S. and coalition partners don’t get enough credit for that. That helps humanitarian aid get into that part of Syria it helps save lives. So the U.S. is looking to expand other cease-fire zones in Syria. If we can have a conversation with the Russians that and making that happen that might be useful."

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