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U.S. NEWSSaturday 4 March 2017
Trump, hitting back, accuses Schumer of Putin ties
JONATHAN LEMIRE men, calling for a probe encounters with Russians
Associated Press into Schumer’s “ties to Rus-
NEW YORK (AP) — Presi- sia and Putin” and called over the years even though
dent Donald Trump, his ad- the New York senator “A
ministration under siege for total hypocrite!” Trump did the party’s criticism of At-
contacts with Russian of- not say where the photo
ficials, is calling for “an im- came from, but Schumer torney General Jeff Ses-
mediate investigation” into quickly pointed out that
Senate Minority Leader it was taken in 2003 when sions centered on his failure
Charles Schumer’s own ties Putin ventured to New York
to Russian President Vladi- to celebrate the opening to acknowledge his meet-
mir Putin. of a Russian-owned Lukoil
Trump’s evidence? A gas station on Manhattan’s ings when questioned at
14-year-old photo of west side.
Schumer and Putin holding Several news organizations his Senate confirmation
coffee and doughnuts in a covered that event, which
New York City gas station. drew far more political star hearing and in written re-
The president on Friday power than the average
tweeted a photo of the two gas station opening. sponses to the Judiciary
Schumer, in his own tweet,
said he would “happily Committee.
talk” under oath about his
meeting with Putin, which “I think he was asked a
took place “in full view of
press and public.” He then pretty straightforward
challenged Trump to do
the same. And, a short time question at his committee
later, he posted a follow-up
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y. speaks to re- in which he further poked hearing and I do think he
porters on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Donald Trump is fun at the photo, noting
calling for “an immediate investigation” into Schumer’s ties to “And for the record, they should resign,” Sen. Bernie
Russian President Vladimir Putin. were Krispy Kreme donuts.”
On the same trip to the Sanders, I-Vt., said in an in-
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) United States in 2003, Putin
traveled to Camp David, terview.
Maryland, where he met
with Republican President Trump also tweeted Fri-
George W. Bush and the
two held a joint news con- day about House Minority
ference.
Trump’s tweet came just Leader Nancy Pelosi, who
hours after the conserva-
tive website Drudge Re- was among the first to call
port made the photo its
lead image. And that was for Sessions to resign.
a day after the photo was
unearthed by the pro- In his tweet, Trump linked
Trump blog Gateway Pun-
dit, which ran it with the to a 2010 photo in which
headline “Where’s the out-
rage?” Pelosi and other lawmak-
Trump targeted congres-
sional Democrats for their ers, including Rep. Mac
Thornberry, R-Texas, now
the chairman of the House
Armed Services Commit-
tee, are shown meeting
with Russian officials, in-
cluding then-President
Dmitry Medvedev and Am-
bassador Sergey Kislyak.
Trump demanded an in-
vestigation of the House
minority leader. Pelosi had
initially denied ever meet-
ing Kislyak; her spokeswom-
an later clarified that they
never had a one-on-one
meeting.
Pelosi then needled Trump
by saying he didn’t “know
the difference” between
an official meeting photo-
graphed by the press and
a “secret” meeting that
Sessions “lied about under
oath.”It is not improper for
elected officials to meet
with foreign diplomats.q
