So James Comey, the man who was investigating the White House’s relationship with Russia as FBI director, has been fired, and the very next day, President Vladimir TrumPutin hosts Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. And, get this, the Russian media were reportedly allowed inside the meeting for photos, while U.S. media were not. That truly sounds like “Making Russia America Great Again.”
Lavrov was taken to the State Department, where he met with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and what the White House hoped would be a controlled meeting with the press turned into a reporter shouting a question about whether Comey’s firing “cast a shadow” on the White House meeting with Lavrov, to which Lavrov responded: “Was he fired? You’re kidding! You’re kidding!” the New York Times reports.
Which to me reads like, “Not only did I know he was fired, but Mother Russia made sure he was fired!”
According to NPR, Lavrov’s meeting with the president was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EDT and was reportedly closed to the U.S. press because the Russian press was tweeting all kinds of photos inside the Oval Office. And get this: Remember Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, and the man at the center of Michael Flynn’s ouster from the White House? Well, guess who is in the Russian photos with Lavrov and TrumPutin? You guessed it: Kislyak!
Of course the company line is that meeting was about Syria and safe zones and the Islamic State group, but let’s read between the lines here. Lavrov was checking on the White House Airbnb rates and making sure accommodations were right for Mother Russia’s four-year stay.
Seriously, with all the rumors around the White House’s reported connections to Russia, you fire the man who’s investigating the reported ties a day before you are to meet with the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador to the United States, who is at the center of Flynn’s firing? Then you don’t allow the U.S. press into the meeting and act like it’s all just normal? None of this is normal, and I’m tired of TrumPutin’s administration and supporters acting like it is.
#StayWoke, y’all.
Read more at the New York Times and NPR.