(ANTIMEDIA) Washington, D.C. — On Wednesday, the Trump administration yet again found itself a target of criticism after the president hosted top Russian officials less than 24 hours after firing FBI Director James Comey, who was leading an investigation into Trump’s alleged ties with Russia. However, it wasn’t the timing of the visit that got the most attention.
Former Deputy Assistant to President Obama Colin Kahl retweeted pictures taken during the meeting between President Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov, and Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak in the Oval Office. The pictures had all been posted by Russian news agency TASS, prompting Kahl to question the administration’s judgment. “Deadly serious Q: Was it a good idea to let a Russian gov photographer & all their equipment into the Oval Office?” the tweet asked, to which former Deputy Director of the CIA David Cohen replied, “No, it was not.”
A White House official told CNN’s Jim Acosta that they did not expect Russia to allow the pictures to be posted publicly. “They tricked us…That’s the problem with the Russians — they lie,” the official said, reportedly angry at the situation. According to Acosta:
Photos of Trump’s meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak just hit the Getty wire and they’re all credited to Russian news agency TASS pic.twitter.com/qE9lWB6KuS
— Matt Novak (@paleofuture) May 10, 2017
“The Russians used the photos to troll the White House in its social media posts Wednesday. The Russian Foreign Ministry posted a photo of a smiling US President shaking hands with Lavrov on Twitter, adding strange and ironic optics to the questions already swirling around the White House over Comey’s firing. In addition to posting the Lavrov-Trump picture, the foreign ministry also posted video of Lavrov joking about Comey’s firing.”
The meeting was closed to outside press; only White House and Russian photographers were granted access, which is standard practice for meetings with “lower-level officials,” according to the White House official.
Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo
No comments:
Post a Comment