WASHINGTON – The future president of the United States wanted a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But it never happened.

Was it politics that derailed the Kremlin confab? An international crisis, perhaps? Nope. It was a traffic jam.

Donald Trump, then just your run-of-the-mill real-estate developer and reality-show star, requested a meet-up with Putin while Trump was in Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013, British-born publicist Rob Goldstone recalls in his new memoir, “Pop Stars, Pageants & Presidents: How An Email Trumped My Life.” The book hits the stores on Tuesday.

Just hours before the pageant, Putin’s official spokesman Dmitry Peskov sent word that he would be calling with some important information, Goldstone writes. When the call finally came – 40 minutes later than scheduled – Peskov regretfully reported that Putin would be unable to meet with Trump that day.

His explanation: Newly crowned King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands was on his way to the Kremlin for an appointment with Putin but got stuck in Moscow traffic. The Trump-Putin engagement would have to wait another day.

Goldstone, who had helped organize the pageant in Russia, would draw attention three years later for setting up a Trump Tower meeting between three senior members of Trump’s presidential campaign and a Russian attorney promising dirt on Trump's opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. That gathering fueled suspicions of Russian meddling in the election that put Trump in the White House. Goldstone would voluntarily submit to interviews with investigators about his role in the meeting.

Goldstone, a self-described “selfie king” who has a fondness for sharing his pics on social media, says in retrospect he’s relieved the Trump-Putin meeting never happened.

“I know myself – I would have somehow positioned myself to get a selfie with those two people in the Kremlin,” he said told USA TODAY. “There is no question in my mind.”

Just imagine how that would have stoked the Russiagate rumor mill, he said.

Goldstone was so grateful for the Dutch king’s tardiness that he dedicated his book to him.

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