Let’s Hope the Secret Service Was Present
President Donald Trump’s schedule for Wednesday included a meeting with Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister. It did not note that accompanying Lavrov would be Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, the man at the center of much of the intelligence community’s investigation into Trump associates who have ties to Russia. U.S. Intelligence views Kislyak as “a top spy and recruiter of spies,” according to CNN.
Not only did Trump’s schedule not include Kislyak, but the official readout of the meeting between Trump and Lavrov did not mention Kislyak at all. CNN confirmed this development.
To make matters worse, the meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak was closed to American media, but Russian media was allowed in to take photos, according to the White House pool report:
“The Lavrov meeting was closed to the press and the only visual account we have of it thus far is via handout photos from the Russian government. Those images show Trump also met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.”
TASS, the Russian news agency, is an official arm of the Russian government.
Another photo, this of Trump and Kislyak from the official Twitter feed of the Russian Embassy in the United States of America:
“The Russian-sourced pictures are the only public record of the meetings as of this writing, largely because members of the White House press pool — who are charged to report on the president’s whereabouts and what happens inside the White House — were not allowed into the meeting Wednesday morning,” CBS News reports. “No photos were taken by the White House press of the president’s meeting with Lavrov and with Russian Envoy Sergey Kislyak.”
One last, but very important note, via former Deputy Assistant to President Obama and National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden, Colin Kahl:
Yes, he’s questioning why Trump allowed members of the Russian government to bring cameras and other equipment into the Oval Office.
Let’s hope the Secret Service was present.