House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's claim she never met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak was contradicted Friday when an unearthed 2010 photo showed her sitting in a group meeting with him.

The Democratic leader had previously told Politico on Friday that she never met with Kislyak.

When Politico later presented her office with a wire photo showing her, in fact, sitting in a meeting with him, a spokesperson said Pelosi meant she had never met privately with the ambassador.

"Of course, that's what she meant," spokesman Drew Hammill told the news website. "She has never had a private one-on-one with him."

After seeing the picture, President Donald Trump called for an investigation into her "close ties to Russia" and "lying about it." The president had earlier called for an investigation into Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Democrats this week rushed to distance themselves from Kislyak after it was revealed Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously met with him and failed to disclose the meetings to Congress. Sessions had testified under oath that he "did not have communications with the Russians."

Sen. Claire McCaskill also claimed this week that she had never met with the Russian ambassador. Social media users quickly searched her Twitter account and discovered evidence to the contrary.