Time to Revisit a Video of the Russian Ambassador Gloating About Attending the RNC — in November

Just two days after the election, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak addressed an audience at Stanford as a visiting speaker for the European Security Initiative Lecture Series. While the entire hour-and-a-half speech is revealing, one moment in particular is quite astounding, given allegations that Russia worked to sway the election in favor of Donald Trump. Not only does Kislyak admit to attending the Republican National Convention as a diplomat, but he actually brags about it.

"All of us diplomats, I think there were about 40, were corralled into a room where people were coming and explaining to us why Republicans are right and Democrats were wrong," Kislyak said. After discussing how his job is to understand and to know people, Kislyak joked about working in the United States for so long that he "knows almost everyone."

Kislyak's comment is especially odd given that American officials who have been caught in lies about meeting with the ambassador consistently claim to forget their meetings with him. Either Kislyak is extremely forgettable, or American officials are attempting to conceal what exactly they spoke to him about during such meetings.

The entire talk (as resurfaced by Rolling Stone journalist Tim Dickinson) is puzzling, but the specific clip of him boasting about attending the Republican National Convention raises a few questions: Why was Kislyak a guest at the 2016 RNC? And why was the Russian ambassador speaking to an audience at Stanford in November 2016?

While Kislyak seems to suggest he also attended the Democratic National Convention, an official from the DNC told USA Today that "no one remembered seeing him there."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Department of Justice's investigation into the connection between Russia and Trump's campaign on March 2 following a bombshell report from The Washington Post alleging he had perjured himself during his nomination hearing. Despite Sessions denying that anyone on the Trump campaign, including himself, had met with Russian officials, The Post reported that he had, in fact, met with Kislyak in September and during an event related to the RNC.