On the morning after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, he met with Russia’s foreign minister in the White House.

The Wednesday meeting was especially newsworthy given the timing and circumstances, with Comey having reportedly just asked for more resources to investigate Trump associates’ ties to Russia and the earlier conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community that Vladimir Putin’s government interfered in the presidential election to boost Trump.

The White House declared the meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to be closed press, meaning that reporters couldn’t attend and cover independently.

But one outlet did get in: TASS, a Russian state media organization.

In addition, Russia’s foreign ministry quickly distributed photos of the Trump meeting with Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. And the Russian embassy even tweeted a shot of the president and Kislyak.

Ambassador Kislyak and President Trump / Посол С.Кисляк и Президент Д.Трамп pic.twitter.com/Ckkx2YL9KX — Russia in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) May 10, 2017

On MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell expressed disbelief over the White House giving Russian state-run media access to a meeting that was closed to U.S. press.

“The Russians had it all out globally while the White House press corps was kept out,” Mitchell said. “It’s unprecedented.”

Several journalists also highlighted the unusual situation whereby the U.S. press became reliant on Russian government handouts for details about the U.S. president’s meeting.

These photos of Trump-Russia meetings are courtesy solely of Russian MFA because no US press allowed in. pic.twitter.com/PI4cSPIqvG — Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 10, 2017

State-run Russian "media" allowed to cover Trump meeting with Russian Foreign Minister. US media not so. Reality. #2017. — Adam B. Ellick (@aellick) May 10, 2017

An unnamed White House official tried explaining TASS’s access in a statement to The Hill’s Jordan Fabian, who served as pool reporter on Wednesday afternoon.

“Our official photographer and their official photographer were present, that’s it,” the official said.

Russia Foreign Minister Press Office/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images One of the photos provided by the Russian government of U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and later distributed by Getty Images.