Former Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak told CNN the network “should be ashamed” after a reporter asked the diplomat if he had ever tried to recruit members of the Trump administration for spying purposes.
The line of questioning appeared to be based off a March report from the network that said, “Current and former US intelligence officials have described Kislyak as a top spy and recruiter of spies, a notion that Russian officials have dismissed.”
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CNN reporter Matthew Chance caught Kislyak exiting a car at a curb in Saransk, Russia.
“What about this allegation that you are a spy master, a spy recruiter?” Chance asked.
“Nonsense. Nonsense,” Kislyak replied.
“Did you attempt to recruit any members of the Trump administration?” Chance followed up.
“You should be ashamed,” Kislyak replied while chuckling.
Kislyak was a controversial point of contact for the Trump campaign and later the administration. It was his phone call with Trump adviser Mike Flynn that later caused Flynn to be fired as national security adviser in the first month of the Trump presidency.
And Kislyak’s contacts in 2016 with Attorney General Jeff Sessions would give Sessions more cause to recuse himself from any Department of Justice investigations that might look into issues related to campaigns from that year. Trump publicly faulted Sessions for recusing himself, since it led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Russian interference in the election.
Kislyak left the U.S. this July to return to Russia after working in Washington for nine years.
