'This Week' Transcript 1-7-24: House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi & Rep. Tony Gonzales

Interview

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It's just horrendous. And all at the instigation of the president of the United States.

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Happy New Year to you.

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Well, George, thank you for the opportunity to speak on this. We didn't realize when I accepted your invitation to be here that this other testimony would be revealed at this time.

What's interesting about it all is that in every case, every piece of this, whether it was our case in terms of the Electoral College, whether it was what happened with the January 6th Committee -- Select Committee, or this testimony now, it's all coming from Republicans. In the select committee, except for maybe the poll workers, and I don't know what party they are, all of the other testimony came from Republicans -- Republican officials, Republican staffers of the president, and now further to that.

So, the -- it's very clear what happened that day. And at that same time from the undisclosed location, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell and I were begging the administration to send the National Guard, to send the National Guard.

We spoke to the army -- the secretary of the army. Well, I don't know. It takes time and I have to talk to my boss about it -- his boss being the acting secretary of defense, (INAUDIBLE) one thing and another.

So, it took hours, hours of what we had seen transpire, hours where we saw people going under the dome that Lincoln built. Lincoln built the dome during the Civil War. People said, don't build the dome, use the steel and the person power, the manpower for the war. And he said, no, I must show our resolve and our strength to build the dome.

And to see the Confederate flag under that dome, to see the disrespect. They're coming -- a bullet in my head, hanging Pence, and the president being so casual about it.

So, it will be interesting to see how we proceed, but remember this -- whether it was our testimony for the Electoral College case, whether it was what the January 6th Committee put forth, and what you're hearing today overwhelmingly coming from the Republicans.

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Well, the 28 percent is 28 -- is the 30 percent that believe Trump no matter what. But again, the fact is the narrative on this is becoming clearer and clearer, and whatever those people for whatever their attitudes are to other people, whatever -- whoever they are, God bless them, I wish them well, I wish they would accept the facts and the truth.

But Trump was a president. People believe a president when he speaks.

That's why I was so glad that Joe Biden yesterday at Valley Forge, a bulwark of our strength during the Revolutionary War, where President Washington consolidated the strength of the troops, the unity of the troops, the immunization (ph) of our troops to go forward to win a revolution, and here our president was at that location telling the truth about what happened on January 6th from a president of the United States.

So we just --

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It's a challenge that we have in our country, and it's a reflection of a dis -- we have people who don't want to believe the truth, for whatever attitudes they have otherwise. But again, during this period, this campaign year, it behooves us to speak with respect for all concerns in a unifying way to bring people together.

But there is no way that anybody can think that that assault on the Constitution, on the day of the -- that law says we're supposed to accept the certification of the Electoral College, that Congress, the caucus -- excuse me -- the Congress, the Capitol, the Constitution. It cannot stand. He is not above the law. And it remains for the case -- the courts to settle that. It's not up to us, it's up to the courts to settle that.

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Yes, I think that he engaged in an insurrection. I think that he incited an insurrection. And, again, that he would not stop what was going on. As his own people said, this is your legacy. Smoke coming from the Capitol is your legacy. Yes, I do believe that. And it is a most unfortunate situation.

Our founders knew that we could have a rogue president. They didn't realize that at the same time, we could have a rogue Senate and Congress. I do think that when -- after all this happened, poop on the floor of the Congress, defecation, blood, disrespect for the people who maintain the Capitol, coming after Pence, coming after me and the rest, the great majority of the Republicans in the House voted not to accept the results of the Electoral College.

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Those laws -- you know, those are up to the states. They have different laws from state to state. I don't think he should ever have been president.

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But nonetheless -- that -- there's a view of the Constitution in Article 14, Section 3, that he should not be able to run for president.

But that's not the point. The point now is, again, different states have different laws. We don't think in California that it -- it applied in our state. That's what the decision was made here.

But, anyway, not to go into that because that's very intricate. What is very clear is that the American people want us to honor our oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. I, you know, being from Baltimore, I'm proud of the national anthem, and in it, it says, proof through the night that our flag was still there. We have to prove through this campaign in the night that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for all, and not have an acceptance of confederate flags under Lincoln's dome with a president sitting in the White House doing nothing to stop the violence, to stop the violence. He talks about the big steal as he engages in the big lie.

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Well, we can't have a government shutdown. Let's be grown-up about how we deal with our responsibilities.

But I will say this, and it was said in your preview here, the president has put forth a proposal in the supplemental to address the concerns at the border. And the Republicans will not allow that to be brought up. They reject his solution to it. We have to be very careful.

When I first met the speaker was right after he made his acceptance speech. I said to him, you quoted Ronald Reagan in your speech. I want to refer you to Ronald Reagan's last speech as president of the United States. He said, I want to deliver -- communicate a message to a country I love. He talked about the Statue of Liberty and the importance of immigration to our country. So, we have to handle this with care.

We must secure our border. That's for sure. There's no question about that. But we also must honor our responsibilities in terms of asylum and the rest, and the president has that in his proposal. And what they say is, oh, it won't make a difference. No, it will make a difference. Let's get the job done. Let's do it soon. And we certainly are not going to shut down government.

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My pleasure. Thank you. Happy New Year to you and a healthy one too.

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