interacted with has found trouble as a result. he lumbered into washington s porsche saint region us hotel for a party given in his honor. only stayed an hour and a half then left. sergey kislyak, the burly back slapping russian is returning to moscow, leaving a string of controversies in his wake. it is clear he has played a substantial role in this investigation that is now consuming the trump administration. reporter: for years kislyak who was already a seasoned diplomat before arriving in the u.s. has been known as an operator in washington, affable and social. you can hardly imagine a more cuddly jovial russian diplomat than sergey kislyak. reporter: but behind the scenes u.s. government officials consider kislyak a spy recruiter something the kremlin strongly denies. and while he has not been accused of russia s meddling in the u.s. election last year, at every turn kislyak seems to be a
jim? brian, he s like a character out of a novel. spy novel, absolutely. sur getting a sense that sergey kislyak was directed by the kremlin to stir things up to provoke the trump team into getting into some trouble? is there any evidence of that? reporter: jim, we are getting different takes on that from veteran diplomats and analysts in washington. some believe kislyak was doing what russian ambassadors have to do. when trump became a front runner he simply had to get more information on them. he had to meet with trump s people. others believe everything putin has done was to distract the new administration, and guess what s happening right now? my guess is plenty of people in washington are happy to see him head back. reporter: absolutely. brian todd, thank you. president trump s pick to replace james comey says he will be loyal to the constitution and rule of law. could he set up a clash with the president? i m asking you as the future fbi director you consider this
nutjob and was relieved from the investigation. he stepped into a fire storm where russia is radioactive and he may not bring much more comfort to u.s. officials. he is seen as a hard liner, less chummy than kislyak. he held a top position in putin s defense ministry and was reportedly a key figure in russia s 2014 invasion of ukraine. he was sanctioned by the e.u. for that but not by the u.s. if relations are going to be bad, it turns out he probably is well suited to a kind of period of chilly interactions. reporter: now, the state department did not respond when we asked why antonov has not been sanctioned by the u.s. for his alleged involvement of invasion of ukraine. as for sergey kislyak, they are not saying where he is going next. former state department official who we spoke to in this piece says kislyak may be in for a letdown, that he ll be hard-pressed to find a job with as much buzz and influence as the one he s leaving right now.
he could have called mr. trump directly as opposed to having his son s pop music publicist be the intermediary. reporter: the father of the pop star, amin agalarav said he doesn t personally know don jr. and said he doesn t know goldstone that well, either, saying it was a tall tale that gladstone contacted him about dirt on hillary clinton. they do seem close in the video. thank you very much, pam. we re back now with democratic congressman jim hines of the intelligence committee. mr. hines, what more do you want to know about these men who apparently played a central role in organizing this meeting. you can see them in this video exclusively obtained by cnn. goldstone, ross, amin agalarav. what do you make of that? what more do you want to know? all advertising to the contrary, it looks like what happens in vegas doesn t stay in
relationship with, and i think this could certainly help that relationship. reporter: investigators plan to examine the trump tower meeting and the e-mails. on fox news tuesday, donald trump jr., who does not appear in the 2013 video, said he had limited knowledge of the russian family. i met them once or twice and maintained a casual relationship there, talked about some potential deals and that s the extent of it. they really didn t go anywhere. reporter: but new video and others show the president s own connections. in 2013, trump appeared in one of amin s music videos. you re just another pretty face. i m really tired of you. you re fired. reporter: and wished him happy birthday in a video posted on amin s instagram. amin, i can t believe you re turning 35. reporter: their lawyer said the e-mails don t add up. sdplz it s just a fantasy world, because the reality is if there was something important that mr. agalarav wanted to communicate to the trump campaign, i suppos