Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey Tuesday fueled questions about his decision and its possible connection to the FBI’s ongoing investigation into Russian election interference. Despite the national political fallout from Trump’s decision, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Washington Wednesday to meet with Trump, seemed to sarcastically tell a reporter that he was unaware Comey had been fired.
When Lavrov and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson emerged Wednesday morning for a brief photo op, Tillerson welcomed Lavrov and thanked the Russian diplomat for traveling to Washington as they continued dialogue “on a very broad range of topics.”
But in response to a shouted question from NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell asking if Comey’s firing “cast a shadow over your talks,” Lavrov responded: “Was he fired? You are kidding. You are kidding.”
Here’s video of Lavrov-Tillerson—>
— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) May 10, 2017
Q: “Does Comey cast a shadow over your talks?”
Lavrov: “Was he fired? You are kidding, you are kidding" pic.twitter.com/8yJb2DkZnd
The response — and Lavrov’s dismissive shrug and eye-roll before walking away with Tillerson — was widely interpreted as mockery.