The White House did not anticipate that the Russian government would allow its state news agency to post photographs of an Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russia's ambassador to the US, a White House official said. 


Photos of Wednesday's meeting, taken by a Russian state news media photographer one day after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey amid questions about possible Trump campaign collusion with Moscow, were ultimately posted by Russia's news agency, TASS. 


The White House did not post photos of the meeting until Thursday. The State Department did post photos of Lavrov's meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, but that was open to the press. 


"They tricked us," an angry White House official said. 


"That's the problem with the Russians -- they lie," the official added.
The Russians used the photos to troll the White House in its social media posts Wednesday. The Russian Foreign Ministry posted a photo of a smiling US President shaking hands with Lavrov on Twitter, adding strange and ironic optics to the questions already swirling around the White House over Comey's firing.

Source: NNA