Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States until he was recalled last summer, said this week in an interview that it would take him 20 minutes to list the Trump administration officials he’s come into contact with.
‘First, I’m never going to do that,’ he said in a Russian-language interview, according to CNBC. ‘And second, the list is so long that I’m not going to be able to go through it in 20 minutes.’
Kislyak is known to have met with Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year. His phone conversations with former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn contributed to the Trump aide’s firing.
Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States until he was recalled last summer, said this week in an interview that it would take him 20 minutes to list the Trump administration officials he’s come into contact with
He is also said to have spoken to Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to the president, during the period between Election Day and Inauguration Day.
President Trump brought Kislyak into his office alongside Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, in May.
The representatives of the Kremlin could have come into contact with any number of Trump administration officials on their way in and out of the White House on that day.
Kislyak’s meetings with Trump campaign officials last year have come under scrutiny in investigations on Capitol Hill and the Department of Justice. He had been in the U.S. in his position since 2008.
The diplomat was recalled to Russia in July amid the fury in the U.S. about alleged collusion between the sitting president’s campaign and the Kremlin.
In his interview with Russia-1, Kislyak insisted that allegations that his country meddled in the election to hoist Trump into the Oval Office are ‘nonsense’ and ‘very sad,’ per CNBC’s translation.
CNN has reported that he is one of Russia’s top spies – a charge the Kremlin has adamantly denied.
Commenting on his meeting with Sessions, Kislyak told Russia-1, ‘I will tell you that in not one meeting, not with Sessions, not with anyone else, did we use any kinds of techniques or arguments that I would not be able to speak about publicly.’
Sessions has been dogged by revelations that he came into contact with Kislyak three times in five months: at a Trump foreign policy speech, at the Republican National Convention and another time in the then-Alabama senator’s office.
He told senators during his confirmation hearing that ‘did not have communications with the Russians’ only to amend his testimony later.
‘I did not mention communications I had with the Russian ambassador over the years because the question did not ask about them,’ Sessions said in a written statement.
‘First, I’m never going to do that,’ he said in a Russian-language interview, according to CNBC. ‘And second, the list is so long that I’m not going to be able to go through it in 20 minutes’
He recused himself ‘from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States’ earlier this year.
It’s the one-on-one meeting with Kisylak in his senate office that has caused Sessions the most trouble.
At a hearing this week, Rep. Ted Lieu of California asked Sessions how long the meeting lasted.
‘I doubt it was 50 minutes, but it may have been,’ Sessions said.
Kislyak told Russia-1 after the Sessions grilling, ‘The questions are all the same. There’s absolutely nothing new. But most important, this is no longer about us.
‘This is no longer about me. This isn’t about contacts with us. This is a war that’s going on between the opponents of the president, the president and everyone surrounding him.’
Trump met with Kislyak the day after he fired former FBI Director James Comey, raising eyebrows.
Kushner reportedly spoke with Kislyak and Flynn about creating a ‘back channel’ between Trump and Putin during the transition.
After less than a month on the job, Trump fired Flynn because he misled the vice president about the nature of a conversation he had with Kislyak regarding U.S. sanctions on Russia.
Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Claire McCaskill have also met with the diplomat at one point or another during his long tenure in Washington.
They say that Sessions’ election-time meeting with the Russian is what was problematic.