President Trump’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday was requested by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a report.
A White House spokesman told Politico that Putin requested the two meet during Trump’s last phone call with the foreign leader.
“He chose to receive him because Putin asked him to,” the spokesman said. “Putin did specifically ask on the call when they last talked.”
{mosads}The White House said in a statement Trump expressed “his desire to build a better relationship between the United States and Russia” during the meeting.
The meeting was closed to the press, but both the Kremlin and the Russian Embassy in the United States tweeted photos of Trump with Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Trump’s meeting with Lavrov came just one day after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who was responsible for overseeing the FBI’s investigation into possible ties and collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian officials.