about this more later. the fbi direct or s firing magnified for the first face-to-face meeting between president trump and top russian diplomats that took place just the day after the firing. the white house is now fighting back against criticism over the meeting photos released by the russian foreign ministry. the pictures were taken by a russian photographer given access to the oval office. american journalists were barred. let s bring in ambassador michael mcphail. he s at stanford and is an msnbc contributor. always good to see you, mr. ambassador. let s talk about the scenario i ve described with the russian photographer. does that raise red flags for you? well, yes and no. the political piece is horrible. the diplomatic piece is horrible. i organized the first meeting