President Trump accused House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of lying on Friday, after a photograph surfaced showing her meeting with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., just hours after she denied ever meeting him.
“I hearby [sic] demand a second investigation, after [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it,” Trump tweeted, sharing a link to Politico report that had uncovered the 2010 image of Pelosi and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Pelosi tweeted back that Trump “doesn’t know [the] difference between official mtg photographed by press & closed secret mtg his AG lied about under oath.”
.@realDonaldTrump doesn’t know difference between official mtg photographed by press & closed secret mtg his AG lied about under oath. https://t.co/YRFCuJkjLA
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) March 3, 2017
Kislyak’s contacts in Congress have received intense scrutiny this week following reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had met twice with him in 2016. In January, Sessions said he never met with any Russian officials during the presidential campaign, but noted that the question was about his campaign activities, and he said this week he only met with Kislyak as part of his job as a senator, not as part of the campaign.
Still, Democrats quickly seized on the reports to call for his recusal in any Russia-related investigations and even, in some cases, for his resignation.
The attorney general announced Thursday afternoon that he would step back from any investigation that involved the Trump campaign.
We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite! pic.twitter.com/Ik3yqjHzsA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
Trump had taken to Twitter earlier Friday to call for an investigation into Schumer, whom he called a “total hypocrite,” after the discovery of a photograph of Schumer sharing coffee and donuts with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
