CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviewed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday night, discussing Trump’s recent comments blaming her for the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol while mistakenly referring to her as “Nikki Haley.”
Cooper played a clip of Trump’s gaffe where he mentioned Pelosi in connection with the January 6th events and mistakenly called her Nikki Haley. Cooper noted that Trump’s statements were factually incorrect and aimed at referring to Pelosi as Haley.
Pelosi responded to Trump’s error, pointing out that he had made the mistake four times in a short period, suggesting it was more than a slip of the tongue. She criticized Trump for projecting his own guilt onto others, stating that he refused to send the National Guard for hours during the Capitol attack.
Cooper countered Trump’s long-held claim that Pelosi turned down help from him on that day. He mentioned a video where Pelosi is heard trying to get the National Guard or military to send troops to the Capitol, debunking Trump’s assertion. Pelosi clarified that she, along with Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, pleaded with the Secretary of the Army to appeal to the Secretary of Defense for assistance.
Pelosi highlighted the District of Columbia’s unique situation, where the head lacks the authority to call up the National Guard without the executive branch’s approval. She criticized Trump for projecting his failures onto others and called his presidency a national security risk, emphasizing the injuries and deaths resulting from the Capitol attack.
Pelosi concluded by expressing frustration with the lack of scrutiny over Trump’s repeated mistakes, contrasting it with the higher standards applied to Democrats. She underscored the ability of Democrats to live up to those standards, implicitly suggesting that Trump fails to do so.
You’re actually on tape that your daughter happened to be filming on that day, where you are trying to get the National Guard or the military to send troops to the Capitol. You’re saying think about it as if it’s the White House. Think about it like it’s the Pentagon,” Cooper added, rebutting Trump’s longheld and widely debunked claim that Pelosi turned down help that day from him.
“Yeah, 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. Yeah, 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,” Pelosi replied, adding:
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 onto 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.
And this person doesn’t even know who he’s talking about there. And is anybody making a fuss? Is that by making a fuss for some reason, it’s okay if you’re 77 and making a mistake 75 times in a row. Whatever you 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.
