Rex Tillerson ditches U.S. press pool for surprise visit with Putin

If you're wondering why the US press doesn't have pictures of Secretary Tillerson at the Kremlin, that's because he ditched his press pool

— Margaret Brennan (@margbrennan) April 12, 2017

Just two days after the Kremlin announced that Rex Tillerson would not in fact meet with the Russian president during his visit to Moscow, news of the meeting was first reported by Russian state propaganda outlet RT (formerly Russia Today), before being confirmed to U.S. journalists:

#BREAKING: #Putin meets #Tillerson in Moscow – Kremlin https://t.co/pv090Ra30z pic.twitter.com/rz8vzansdB

— RT (@RT_com) April 12, 2017

Playing power games with U.S. secretaries of state about whether he will or will not meet with them is familiar behavior from Putin and not news in and of itself. However, Tillerson’s decision to refuse access for the U.S. State Department traveling press corps to take photographs is new. Under the Obama administration, both Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry made themselves available for photographs with Putin during their various meetings with him. By denying his own press pool access, Tillerson is giving Russian state propaganda outlets near-total control of the narrative.

In another unusual turn of events, and to the apparent amusement of seemingly hostile Russian state media journalists, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov castigated U.S. journalist Andrea Mitchell before his meeting with Tillerson when she attempted to pose a question to the secretary:

"Who brought you up? Who taught you manners?" Russian FM scolds US journalist for shouting out during Rex Tillerson meeting. pic.twitter.com/JjAn17LB3K

— RT UK (@RTUKnews) April 12, 2017

MITCHELL: Secretary, the Russians don’t believe the intelligence [about use of sarin gas by Syrian regime]. How confident are you Mr. Secretary…[interrupted]

LAVROV: Who was bringing you up? Who gave you your manners?

"Who was bringing you up and teaching you manners?" – #Lavrov to journo who started screaming out a question after the handshake.

— Ilya Petrenko (@ilpetrenko_rt) April 12, 2017

When both top diplomats were done with their opening remarks #Lavrov went – "Now you can shout!" and smiled.

— Ilya Petrenko (@ilpetrenko_rt) April 12, 2017

After the surprise meeting, Tillerson and Lavrov turned to their joint press conference — with Putin nowhere to be seen.

CNN’s chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto asks an important question:

In particular, what message does this send in a country that deliberately muffles the press (and much worse)?

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 12, 2017

The lack of transparency by the Trump administration should concern all Americans, especially with regard to their relationships and interactions with Russian officials. Tillerson’s decision to hide from the American press only raises more questions about the Trump team’s ties to Russia.