Pelosi slams Trump’s call for ‘investigation’ into 2010 Russia meeting

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Friday pushed back against a tweet by President Trump that called for an “investigation” into the California Democrat’s “close ties to Russia.”
“@realDonaldTrump doesn’t know difference between official mtg photographed by press & closed secret mtg his AG lied about under oath,” Pelosi tweeted.
.@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
{mosads}
Pelosi responded after Trump tweeted that he would demand a probe of Pelosi after a photo emerged of the former Speaker meeting with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak and other Kremlin officials in 2010.
The photo emerged after Pelosi told Politico on Friday that she never met with Kislyak. Once the photo emerged, her office clarified that the lawmaker meant that she had not met one-on-one with the ambassador and that Kislyak’s presence at the 2010 meeting was “incidental.”
“Leader Pelosi’s answer to the question today was clearly about private, one-on-one meetings, which she has never had with Ambassador Kislyak,” Caroline Behringer, Pelosi’s deputy communications director, said in a statement.
“The Ambassador was incidental to the 2010 meeting between then-Russian President Medvedev and then-Speaker Pelosi,” she continued.
“Clearly, one needs to remind that Attorney General Sessions lied under oath about a secret meeting amidst Russia’s hacking of our election, which he also didn’t disclose in a written questionnaire.”
After the photo emerged, Trump tweeted, “I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it.”
I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it. https://t.co/qCDljfF3wN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017
Earlier in the day, Trump floated launching an “investigation” of Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) over a photo of the Democratic senator eating doughnuts and drinking coffee with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2003.
“We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite!” he tweeted.
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
The back-and-forth between Trump and Pelosi on Friday came a day after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from government investigations of Russian election meddling and Trump’s potential ties to Moscow.
The recusal from any federal investigations into Russia’s intervention in the 2016 presidential election came amid revelations that Sessions twice spoke with Kislyak during Trump’s presidential campaign.
Questions about Trump and his associates’ ties to the Kremlin have roiled his young administration. His former national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned last month after it was revealed that he discussed U.S. sanctions with the Russian ambassador in the month before Trump took office.
Other Trump aides have met with Kislyak as well, including his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.
Updated: 5:22 p.m.
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