With the fake news furor over the fact that Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was then serving as a senator on the Armed Services Committee, had met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Krislyak twice during the 2016 presidential campaign, the Democrats are noticeably quiet about how often Krislyak visited the White House during Barack Obama’s tenure as president.
As The Daily Caller reports, the White House logs list Krislyak as visiting the White House at least 22 times between 2009 and 2016. The most recent meeting the ambassador had with the White House occurred in September 2016 with John Holdren, Obama’s science advisor and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Other Krislyak visits listed in the logs include July 2016, March 2016, January 2016, August 2015, April 2014, February 2014, May 2013, February 2013, November 2012, December 2011, July 2011, December 2010, October 2010, May 2010, April 2010, February 2010, March 2010, December 2009 and September 2009.
In addition to the dates Krislyak was scheduled to visit the White House, the logs include which White House official hosted the visit. Gary Samore, the senior National Security Council official on weapons of mass destruction during Obama’s first term, hosted Krislyak four times; Robert Malley, Obama’s senior adviser on defeating the Islamic State, three times; Lawrence Summers, Obama’s economic adviser, once; and Holdren, twice.
12 other times were listed as Krislyak visits, although those were for events at which between 180 and 3,000 other visitors were also listed.
The logs often reflect scheduled,but unfulfilled appointments; so it is not clear exactly how many of the listed visits Krislyak was present for.