Russian Foreign Minister Invited To White House; Claims No Election Interference In 2016

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 10: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hold a joint news conference in the Franklin Room at the State Department December 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. Earlier, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump based in part on activities related to Ukraine, which is at war with Russia. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The word of Americas intelligence agencies is apparently not good enough. The Trump administration invited the Russian Foreign Minister to the White House today. One of the topics was election interference, or not.

Asked about White House readout that said Trump warned about election interference, Lavrov first said they didn’t talk about the issue. But he then said they in fact had – and that he was the one who brought it up, to relay what he said earlier in the day to Pompeo.
— Nicholas Wadhams (@nwadhams) December 10, 2019

Later, in a press conference with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Lavrov denied Russia interfered in the 2016 election. But, why was the Russian given the platform? Especially when there is no question that he’s lying.

Why would we have any diplomatic contact at all with Russia after election 2016? Why are we allowing a Russian foreign minister to stand in the US and publicly spout these lies and call us liars on our own soil? https://t.co/5JhQw2gS4B
— Clint Watts (@selectedwisdom) December 10, 2019

Lavrov’s invitation to Washington came on the same day Democrats were announcing articles of impeachment against the president.

In his meeting with Lavrov, Pompeo told the Russian diplomat that election interference would be “unacceptable.” Lavrov responded that Russia had demanded the United States produce evidence of interference.

This post contains analysis and opinion.