“ the investigation into russia ’s actions , james comey would not have ended it .
” the day after firing mr. comey , mr. trump hosted russia ’s foreign minister , sergey v. lavrov , in the oval office , along with the russian ambassador to the united states , sergey i. kislyak .
the comments represented an extraordinary moment in the investigation , which centers in part on the administration ’s contacts with russian officials : a day after firing the man leading that inquiry , mr. trump disparaged him — to russian officials .
in a statement , he said that mr. comey had behaved politically and put unnecessary pressure on the president ’s ability to conduct diplomacy with russia on matters such as syria , ukraine and the islamic state .
a third the law enforcement investigation into possible coordination between russia and the trump campaign has identified a current white house official as a significant person of interest , showing that the probe is reaching into the highest levels of government , according to people familiar with the matter .
the sources emphasized that investigators remain keenly interested in people said .
( peter stevenson , jason aldag , whitney leaming the washington post ) [ graphic : what we know so far about team trump ’s ties to russian ambassador sergey kislyak .
the meeting ignited controversy this week when it was revealed that mr. trump ’s son - in - law , jared kushner , as well as attorney general jeff sessions and secretary of state rex tillerson .
the white house document that contained mr. trump ’s comments was based on notes taken from inside the oval office and has been circulated as the official account of the meeting .