The Trump administration is withdrawing a proposal to let Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's security guards buy $1.2 million in U.S.-made weapons following violence against protesters during Erdoğan's visit to Washington this spring, AP reported.
A congressional official says the State Department has formally withdrawn its notification to Congress of the planned sale. The official wasn't authorised to discuss the issue publicly and demanded anonymity, the report said.
Word of the withdrawn sale came as President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering. Erdoğan arrived in New York on Monday for the meetings.
Earlier this year, the administration told Congress it planned to allow New Hampshire gunmaker Sig Sauer to sell the weapons, which include hundreds of semi-automatic handguns and ammunition. The weapons would have gone to an intermediary in Turkey for use by Erdoğan's presidential security forces, it added.
Nineteen people including 15 identified as Turkish security officials have been indicted by a U.S. grand jury for attacking protesters in May.
