nytimes.com – By DAVID E. SANGER – WASHINGTON — What a day for President Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with a top Russian official. Only hours after dismissing James B. Comey as director of the F.B.I., amid an investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian officials, the president met with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, at the White House. It is the only item on the president’s public schedule for Wednesday.
Mr. Lavrov began his day at the State Department, meeting Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, and the subject of Mr. Comey came up, briefly, in what the State Department hoped would be a controlled encounter with the news media.
After Mr. Tillerson thanked Mr. Lavrov for coming to Washington, the two men began to leave the diplomatic reception room on the seventh floor of the State Department. When a reporter shouted a question about whether Mr. Comey’s dismissal “cast a shadow” on the meeting, Mr. Lavrov, known for a puckish sense of humor, shot back:
“Was he fired? You’re kidding! You’re kidding!”