Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Discusses About Trump's Claim Of Total Immunity And President Biden's Age Concerns

Interview

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That would mean that - hi, Anderson, nice to be with you. That would mean that this president thinks that he is above the law. And I think that he is on trial for certain things. I think the Supreme Court is on trial, as well, to see if they would uphold the decision of the D.C. District Court and - well, there's four votes to hear it, five votes for a stay, how could they possibly give a stay for justice to proceed? How could they possibly give a stay?

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So this is really, again, he always thought he was above the law. He's trying to make that a case. That's not what our founders had in mind. They knew there could be a rogue president. I don't think they thought there could be a rogue Supreme Court, as well.

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bsolutely. Well, he should have for a long time. But the rules of the Senate, the protocols of the Senate are such that they really are not living up to a high ethical standard. And he should have been recusing himself. They say their rule is that it's up to the person to recuse themselves. They have no peer pressure or anything to address that.

But his wife is so involved in everything that was happening on January 6th, bragging about it and there he is.

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They're not on the level legally, not on the level of security, not on the level personally.

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Well, it would be - as I say, it would - look, it's not just alone. At the same time, in the same period of time, the president is talking about Nikki Haley's husband, who's on duty in the Horn of Africa, and dismissing that of where is he, why isn't he here.

Well, if you - one of us had a friend, a family member or something, who was on duty in service to our country and was treated with that - in that manner, something's wrong there. And then, same thing with our own obligations as a president. I can't speak to what Marco Rubio's thinking about this. You'll have to ask him.

But what I'm saying to you is this - now, this is dangerous. I had the privilege of being invited to the Munich conference, Munich Security Conference this coming weekend. Usually, we have at least 10 percent of the Congress that goes there, House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, in a very bipartisan way, to talk about our security, our mutual security, our transatlantic relationship, the commitment to NATO, our friendship with the EU and the rest.

And people now have expanded to come from other parts of the world, not just Europe and the United States and Canada. And - but how do we even hold our heads up when we haven't passed the legislation to fund Ukraine to fight Putin, Ukraine courageously fighting for their democracy and ours. The countries of Europe bordering Ukraine and bordering Russia know that they're at risk. And then we have a president saying, invade them if they haven't done what I think they should do.

He also did that when he was president. He - so it is, to your question, yes - yes, it's not a good sign about America's commitment to global security.

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And again, we have to show the difference, that not everybody agrees with this. And some Republicans don't agree. You name one person. But I think there are many Republicans who have somewhat ease with this.

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Well, he says no, but let's just see when it passes the Senate. Public sentiment is saying, what is going on here, what is going on here. Now, one thing that - about all of that that is really sad is that the president, President Biden, for a long time has had in that legislation humanitarian assistance to people in Gaza and that would be at risk, as well.

Ukraine, it's a moral responsibility. I mean, it's in our interest to help Ukraine. It's in our interest to help Ukraine. The aid to Israel is something that we're committed to. But we also have - are concerned about the hostages and we're concerned about the people of Gaza and their need for humanitarian assistance. This is not how conflict should be resolved in this way, with people - innocent civilians dying and those numbers. But they do need humanitarian assistance. But that's being held up, as well.

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Our leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said that he is not - has not ruled out using a discharge petition, which is a parliamentary maneuver to try to bring a bill to the floor and also to just see where all of the Republicans are on this, because we've had over 300 votes for assistance to Ukraine, but strong bipartisan support for that in the Congress. So this isn't a partisan issue in most respects.

But it is - you saw the other day, they brought up two bills they didn't have the votes for, come on.

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Never, never. But what I say is - I mean, I wish him well. He's the Speaker of the House. I wish him well. I wish we can find a path. I offered help any way I could. But I think the Republicans wanted Trump as their speaker, and they

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Well, you - the thing about it is - I'll just use this word that is really lacking on the Republican side, both in the Congress and with what's-his-name-used-to-be-president - respect. Respect your members. Listen to their concerns. Build your consensus. And then you come to the floor with the votes. But you don't come to the floor without the votes and then say, oh, I thought it was going to be different. No, this is objective numbers. Objective numbers.

And then, in terms of respect, the president has - doesn't respect the Congress. He doesn't - well, I don't know what his attitude is to the court he appointed them. I guess he expects them they owe him or something. He doesn't respect our global relationships. He doesn't respect our commitment to NATO. So it's a lack of respect across the board - personally, politically, globally, and in so many ways.

And I just wish it were different. I pray for the president all the time. I pray that he would open his heart to wisdom - his mind to wisdom, his heart to goodness, but it's a hard sell.

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His age is his age, yes. I'll tell you this, though. I've worked with the President for a long time, especially closely as speaker when he was president and now since then. And he knows, I mean, he's always on the ball. He knows these issues. He knows the legislation. He helped write some of it. He campaigned on it. He remembers it. Anyone who would think that they're at some advantage because of his age thinks that they're peril because he's very sharp.

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Well, I think that people do make mistakes. I think his age is one thing. That's an objective fact. He's make a mistake from time to time, we all do that. When the former ex-president - defeated president, Trump, made a mistake about one thing or another, he would make the same mistake seven times. It wasn't a slip of the tongue. It was a complete going down a path of something that wasn't even true, intentionally or otherwise.

So, I think that, again, age is an objective fact. As I say, it's all relative. He's younger than I am, so what do I have to say about his age? But he is, again, knowledgeable, wise. And after the football game yesterday, which I was sad - proud of the San Francisco 49ers, but you saw ...

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... yes, but, I mean, the reason I brought it up is because at the end of the game you saw experience prevail. We have a new, fresh team, wait until next year, we're getting all ready for it. But you saw experience prevail at the end. Experience is so important.

So, Joe Biden has vision, he has knowledge, he has - a strategic thinker. This is a very sharp president. In terms of his public presentation, if he makes a slip of the tongue here or there, what's the deal? He is - has what he needs ...

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mentally and what he has in his heart empathetically for the American people.

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Yes.

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Yes, but I think his public presentation is okay. I think in meetings you see firsthand that he's on top of the situation. He knows what's going on. And why we're even having this conversation? We're talking about Joe Biden, the President of the United States, compared to - but it isn't just the comparison, it's about what he brings to the table.

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Well, four times he made a mistake in a very short period of time. So that's a different story than a slip of a tongue. But I will say that on that score, this is really sick. This is a president who refused to send the National Guard for hours. And now he's doing what he always does. He protects -- he projects his own guilt onto other people. And he's always been projecting.

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Yes, not only me, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell said you better get them over here in a hell of a fast or some terminology like that. Yes, I mean, this is ridiculous. It's -- we pleaded with the secretary of Army. We pleaded with him to appeal to the secretary of Defense. Oh, it's going to take a long time. I have to go talk to my boss, all of that.

What's so sad is the District of Columbia, unlike any state in the union. The head of the District of Columbia does not have the authority to call up the National Guard. It has to be from the executive branch. And they know they didn't do it. And now they try to turn it around.

But that's the story of his presidency, always projecting his own failures and then trying to put it on to somebody else. It's really a sad situation for our country because he's been a national security risk. He was a personal risk that day for so many. People were injured. Hundreds -- over 100 police officers, law enforcement people were injured. Some people died.

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And this person doesn't even know who he's talking about there. And is anybody making a fuss? Is anybody making a fuss? For some reason, it's OK if you're 77 and making a mistake seven -- five times in a row, whatever he did then. But if you're Joe Biden, then they hold you to a higher standard, but they always hold Democrats to a higher standard. We can live up to it.

And I'm very proud of the president. And when it comes to these documents, the president has been open. He -- President Biden has been open, he has given access to his venues, his home here and there, his documents, whatever it is, and this other one has -- you had to have a subpoena to even have access denying you had them and telling his staff to --

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comply with his misrepresentations about it. So it's really sad what the special counsel came out with. He is -- he should have -- you prosecute or you don't, it's a professional thing to do. To start deciding on somebody's age. Do you know that before Trump was president, before he was president -- so now we're going back about, what, seven years, so he was 70 or 69 at the time -- over 1,000 times he said, I don't know, I can't remember, I don't know, again, over 1,000 times in depositions. So, people say that in depositions --

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some, I mean, 1,000 times, you know, something's wrong there, but nonetheless. So for this report to go into the personal aspects of somebody saying, I don't know, I don't remember when they didn't really call it out on other people.

But, anyway, we don't agonize, we organize. We have a great candidate, Joe Biden, president of the United States, Kamala Harris. We're on the road to victory, as I say, but we just win, baby. We have a will to win and we will win because it is the right thing for our country.

In the meantime, we have a security risk who wants to be president again --

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and we just can't let that happen to our country.

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My pleasure.

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