President Trump canceled his August vacation to his Bedminster resort to work on talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
Leavitt said Trump considered continuing peace talks while at his New Jersey golf resort but decided to stay at the White House instead.
“This is normally the time when the president goes on vacation, but not this president,” she said. “There [were] discussions about him working from Bedminster for a couple of weeks, but he decided against it.”
“He’s a man on a mission. He wants to move. Get things done quickly,” Leavitt added. “He wants to strike when the iron is hot.”
Presidents typically take a vacation in August while Congress is out for its recess. Trump took a 17-day trip to Bedminster in 2017 during his first term.
Trump has been focused on ending the Ukraine-Russia war and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Days later, on Monday, Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders at the White House for talks.
The president announced after those talks that he is working to arrange a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, followed by a trilateral meeting that would involve him.
When asked about the timing of the trilateral meeting, Leavitt replied, “It’s hard to judge. I think he wants to see how the bilat goes.”
The White House has been optimistic about the meetings taking place, without giving a timeline. Leavitt told reporters that Putin promised he would have a direct meeting with Zelensky.
