U.S. President Donald Trump is calling for an investigation into Democratic politicians Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and what he has called their "ties" to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite!" the president tweeted on March 3 after a 2003 photo surfaced of Schumer and Putin talking while holding coffee and doughnuts.
He later tweeted a photo of Pelosi, a representative from California, with Russian officials at a dinner in 2010.
"I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it," he wrote.
Schumer, the Senate minority leader from New York, responded to Trump on Twitter by saying he would "happily talk" under oath about his meeting with Putin, which, he said, took place "in full view of press and public."
He challenged Trump to do the same.
During his 2003 trip to the United States, Putin traveled to Camp David to meet and hold a press conference with Republican President George W. Bush.
Trump's campaign and administration have been dogged by questions of links to the Russian government and contacts Trump's campaign team had with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
U.S. intelligence services and politicians on both sides of the aisle have concluded that Moscow attempted to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
