President Trump on Wednesday backed away from his plan to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the fall, citing the special counsel investigation into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election.

“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,” Bolton said in a statement distributed through the White House press pool.

There is no hard deadline for special counsel Robert Mueller to wrap up his Russia investigation, which Trump has often referred to as a “witch hunt,” and no public indication that Mueller will do so by the end of the year.