The Trump-Lavrov meeting had issues even before it started

A Russian photographer was mistakenly welcomed into the meeting.

• The White House was not told that the photographer with Lavrov was a photojournalist and not an official state photographer.
• While Trump did not allow American journalists into the meeting, he unknowingly brought in a Russian cameraman.

Welcoming Lavrov into the Oval Office is symbolic of a shifting relationship with Russia.

• Russia allegedly had been asking the Obama administration for a Lavrov meeting for years.
• But such a meeting would incorrectly imply that the Russia-U.S. relationship was back to an amicable place.

Why it matters: The misleading circumstances that led to the Trump-Lavrov meeting (and the meeting itself) has sparked concerns about Trump's abilities to handle classified intelligence and to manage our relationship with Israel.