President Donald Trump is delaying his proposed meeting this fall with Russian leader Vladimir Putin until 2019 because of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Kremlin’s meddling in the election, the White House said Wednesday.

“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​,​”​ National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a statement.​

The White House announced last week that Trump had invited Putin to Washington following their face-to-face summit in Helsinki.

Trump was roundly criticized for his performance during a joint-news conference with Putin when he sided with the Russian strongman instead of the US intelligence community over Moscow interfering in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump also raised eyebrows because he met with Putin for more than two hours with only their translators present.