Politics - News Analysis
BREAKING: Trump-Kim Summit Ends Abruptly With Signing Agreement Now in Doubt
The schedule for Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un’s second day of meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam was abruptly changed Thursday.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters in Vietnam that talks would wrap up earlier than expected, with Trump returning to his hotel in the next 30 to 45 minutes.
Trump and Kim were originally supposed to hold a working lunch that has been canceled.
The two leaders were also scheduled to participate in ceremony to sign a joint agreement. Sanders declined to say whether that ceremony would still happen, but it appears unlikely.
Trump-Kim summit unexpectedly cut short https://t.co/LHpY6AS2Qk
— POLITICO (@politico) February 28, 2019
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Trump’s press conference, originally scheduled for 4 p.m. Vietnam time, or 4 a.m. Washington time, will now be at 2 p.m., Sanders said.
Pool reporters had been waiting in the dining room at the Metropole Hotel, where the summit is taking place, were originally told lunch had been delayed for 30 minutes. The table in the dining room was was set with menus and name cards on chairs.
To give a sense of how abrupt this change in scheduling is, the White House had already sent out the menu for President Trump and Kim Jong Un’s lunch, a meal that didn’t happen.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 28, 2019
Then at about, 12:35 p.m. local time, reporters were told by a White House spokeswoman that “there has been a program change.”
Trump has been lowering expectations for the results of the summit even as he has touted his “very special relationship” with Kim. Trump has said repeatedly he is in “no rush” to get a denuclearization deal as long as North Korea refrains from nuclear and missile tests, saying at the top of the meetings Thursday that “speed is not important.”
UPDATE:
Looks like Trump will be flying home early!
Potus is set to fly out on AF1 after his presser at Hanoi Marriott. Keep in mind Kim Jong Un is reportedly scheduled to remain in Hanoi thru Saturday to tour economic development projects and complete state visit to Vietnam.
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) February 28, 2019
Hanoi summit unexpectedly cut short; lunch with Kim, signing ceremony apparently scuttled.
Prediction: Trump is flustered about Cohen, and is anxious to return home to exact some kind of revenge and/or rage golf.
— ➖Dustin Miller➖ (@spdustin) February 28, 2019
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