On Dec. 10, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Washington, D.C., meeting with the President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Both said later they told Lavrov that Russian interference in U.S. elections was unacceptable and would not be tolerated.
Lavrov and Pompeo held a lengthy news conference after their meeting.
“On the question of interference in our domestic affairs, I was clear: It’s unacceptable and I made our expectations of Russia clear,” Pompeo stated in opening remarks. “The Trump administration will always work to protect the integrity of our elections -- period. Should Russia or any foreign actor take steps to undermine our democratic processes we will take action in response.”
Lavrov spent a large portion of his remarks denying any interference.
“We have highlighted once again that all speculations about our alleged interference in the domestic processes in the United States are baseless. There were no facts that support that. We did not see these facts. No one has given us these proofs because simply they don’t exist,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov said Russia has “proposed multiple times” that Moscow and Washington “put on paper” a memorandum of “mutual non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs.”
Pompeo largely deferred to Lavrov when reporters asked questions.
Washington Post correspondent John Hudson brought up the election interference issue. “Why not just read the Mueller report? It is very detailed when it comes to U.S. allegations related to meddling in the 2016 elections,” he asked Lavrov, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year into whether the Trump campaign had improperly worked with Russians.
Lavrov responded: “Now as for meddling or non-meddling. You suggested to simply read the Mueller report. We read it. There is no evidence of any collusion.”
Lavrov’s claims that there’s no evidence of Russian interference are false.
In fact, Mueller’s final report rejected the concept of “collusion,” a term not in criminal law, instead examining whether the Trump campaign coordinated or conspired with Russians. The report describes numerous efforts by Russian hackers and others to interfere in the presidential election to Trump’s benefit.
Mueller concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to criminally charge Trump campaign officials for conspiring with Russians. In February 2018, however, Mueller’s team indicted 13 Russian nationals involved in a social media propaganda operation to subvert the election. Also indicted was the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency, where many of the indicted individuals worked.