President Trump declares desire to meet with Putin 'very quickly' President #Trump would like to hold a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir #Putin as soon as possible, he told the Newsmax TV channel in an interview. "I know he wants to meet and I’m going to meet [him] very quickly. I would’ve done it sooner but... you have to get into the office. For some of the things, you do have to be there," Trump said. Meanwhile, Trump's incoming national security advisor Mike Waltz told ABC News that phone conversations between the Russian leader and the US president-elect may take place in the near future. Trump has previously said that he would like to meet with Putin in the first six months of his presidency and is ready for such contacts. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in turn, said that Putin was open to dialogue with his new US counterpart without any preconditions, adding that "there are no specifics yet.".

Damage from fires in California comparable with nuclear strike, says President Trump The scale of devastations from #wildfires raging in #California is above the damage from a nuclear strike, US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Newsmax television. "And it's far worse than you even see on television, if that's believable," Trump said. "I believe it's greater damage than if they got hit by a nuclear weapon," he noted. "We're going to find many bodies and many more dead," #Trump added. Wildfires started spreading in the Los Angeles County on January 7. Fires destroyed more than 12,300 buildings. The death toll according to the latest data is 24 people.