But a file photo from Pelosi's 2010 meeting with Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev shows current US Russian Ambassador Kislyak at the table across from Pelosi — then House speaker — and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Medvedev had been in the country for a meeting with President Barack Obama a day earlier and stopped in on Capitol Hill to meet with congressional leaders as well.
Asked
to square Pelosi's comments with the photo of the meeting, a spokesman said
Pelosi simply meant she never had a solo meeting with Kislyak.
“Leader Pelosi’s answer to the question today
was clearly about private, one-on-one meetings, which she has never had with
Ambassador Kislyak," Hammill said. "The Ambassador was incidental to
the 2010 meeting between then-Russian President Medvedev and then-Speaker
Pelosi. Also visible in the picture is Texas Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry.
And a Democratic source noted that alongside Pelosi — but obscured in the
picture — is former House GOP leader Eric Cantor.