Story highlights Trump met with Russian foreign minister, ambassador to the US

The White House insisted that Trump's meetings Wednesday had been long-planned

Washington (CNN) If President Donald Trump had been hoping to erase any implications that his abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey was tied to the agency's investigation into Russian election meddling, he seemed to veer wildly off course by midday.

Rather than avoiding the topic, Trump appeared to embrace a set of images that put him smack in the middle of the Russia swirl, with a visual reminder of the Nixon administration to boot.

Pictured for the first time since he fired Comey, Trump stood in the White House, grinning widely, as he shook the hand of Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak -- the very man several of his associates have said they met with during last year's campaign.

Minutes later, Trump welcomed to the Oval Office Henry Kissinger, who served as Secretary of State under Richard Nixon. Trump drew immediate comparisons to the former president after firing Comey since Nixon, too, fired the man leading an investigation into his associates' actions.

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Trump's meeting with Kislyak came as part of a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was in Washington to talk to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. White House officials confirmed the meeting only after news of Comey's dismissal emerged on Tuesday evening.

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