Transcript: House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Jan. 5, 2025
The following is the full text of an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on January 5, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined by Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi. Nice to see you here in person.
Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi: I’m delighted to be here. Thank you so much.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, tomorrow morning, you and other members of Congress will be at the Capitol to certify Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election. The level of security here is unprecedented, partly due to violent attacks by his supporters four years ago in a bid to change the outcome of the last election. Why do you think so much of the American public thinks this doesn’t disqualify him from a second term as president?
House Speaker Pelosi: Well, thank you again for giving us the opportunity to talk about this because that’s what they’re doing because they’re denying the election and they’ve been denying what happened in January ever since. – January 6th What a shocker. They want to revise history. They just – they just can’t. But I’m glad they’ve stepped up security and I hope it will be very peaceful because the public knows that. Now to answer your question, I think — that’s not the case, I — I wouldn’t say that the American people are ignoring this. They just have different ideas about what is in their interests, financial and otherwise. So I don’t — I don’t think it’s a disregard for January 6th. I just call it something they think is in their financial interest.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Just last night, Donald Trump screened a documentary about the 2020 election at Mar-a-Lago, declaring himself the winner and trying to talk about the legal challenges he faces. There seems to be an ongoing effort to claim he will win in 2020.
House Speaker Pelosi: This is really sad. Very sad indeed. I don’t know about that movie and the others he’s made, but it’s almost sickening that he would think that in 2020. It’s going to be clear that he won the election now, it’s going to be clear tomorrow – we’re going to accept the results of the Electoral College. So he should feel victorious about it. But he’s still trying to fight a battle that he knows he’s losing, and that’s really sad.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, the president-elect has said that within the first nine minutes of his new term, he will pardon many of the people involved on January 6th. He said he would look at it on a case-by-case basis but looking back at what happened four years ago, there’s audio, there’s video evidence to prove what happened. This is personal to you guys, you have some thugs in your office. Chant your name. One of the defendants: “We were looking for Nancy, trying to shoot her in the fucking brain, but we didn’t find her.” For you, this is personal. So when you hear about pardons, do you think nonviolent attackers should be pardoned?
House Speaker Pelosi: Non-violent — I think this was a violent attacker, the intent —
MARGARET BRENNAN: –violence itself.
House Speaker Pelosi: Yes—
MARGARET BRENNAN: — what you consider to be violent language.
House Speaker Pelosi: Violent language — yes, intent. And, of course, the intention to attack the Vice President of the United States. Now that day is not over yet. As you know, he called on these people to continue their violent behavior, and my husband was the victim of all of this, and he is still injured from that attack. So it just kept going. It’s not something that happens and then ends. No, once you are attacked, you suffer ongoing consequences. So I don’t think it’s — it’s really weird for someone who’s about to be president of the United States to think that it’s okay to pardon people who were involved in the attacks. But let’s – you know, let’s do this. Let’s say okay to the American people. That’s the purpose of this article. Don’t be fooled by denying the 2020 election – why is he saying that? But he – but he is. In addition, it also denies what happened on January 6.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But some of the 1,600 defendants here were actually only charged with trespassing. When you look at the data, the University of Chicago did a study, half of the people who broke into the Capitol were white-collar workers. They are small business owners. There does not have to be a criminal record. When you view that profile, you state your intent. You argue that what is more important to consider than the crime is the intent itself. You know, it makes you look at the crime of trespassing itself in a different light.
Dear Speaker Pelosi: The President has said he will handle this on a case-by-case basis. So I think some of them may not have engaged in the violence that some of the others did. Look at this beautiful Capitol, with the dome that Lincoln built. They said under Lincoln during the Civil War, don’t build the dome. War, they say, requires too much steel and manpower. He said, no, I have to show American resilience. And then under that dome, you see the flags, these flags, you know, just horrible flags under Lincoln’s dome. So it’s a tragedy and we can’t deny what it is. If the president is going to handle it on a case-by-case basis, which I hope he does, then maybe —
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Trespasser, will you pardon me?
House Speaker Pelosi: Well, it depends on how they define what it is. But – but I know there was some encouragement and then there were – a lot of people were threatened, including me and – to come to my house and search for me and find my husband, who, as I said, is still suffering from a head injury from that day. So when you have a head injury, these things don’t just happen and go away. But anyway, seeing so many people threatened in elected offices is beyond me right now, but with so many people in elected offices, your choice to go into public service should not be a threat to your family.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You write in your book about the 2022 attack on your husband, and you say that your daughter told you that (if) she knew what you were signing, she would never give her blessing to you running for office. first place. Do you think the threat of domestic violent extremism will have a chilling effect on new talent and anyone running for office?
House Speaker Pelosi: Well, I certainly hope not. But over the years, when I would encourage people to run for office, especially women, they would say, we could never handle the abuse you suffered, and that was really just abuse. It’s not physical, it’s criticism and stuff, and we don’t want our children to be exposed to that. Yes, I do think it will have a negative impact on people running for office. Just – you know, in other words, if you – if you’re a mom, they’re going to come after you as a – as a mom and your kid comes home from school crying because someone said something negative, You may not run for office because they see it on TV and the other person says bad things about you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you think this is going to hold back women—
Nancy Pelosi: Especially women.
MARGARET BRENNAN: –running?
House Speaker Pelosi: Yes, I do. I mean, I know it has. But I hope not, we will take a strong look at this and say, this is unacceptable. This is unacceptable. You see, for women, they’ve always – we’ve always – we could say, women are more moral than men. So when they pursue female candidates, they also pursue their ethics. They would say this, that and other things. Then the child comes home from school crying because someone said something bad about her mother on TV. No one – no one wants that. So hopefully the amount of bright light shining on it will be reduced – less of that. But I think women have proven that they’re – more moral, and they – well, maybe they’re not more moral, they’re both moral, but they can – and then withstand that criticism.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, during Trump’s first term as speaker, you took very public positions to challenge Donald Trump when he was president. Democrats are now in the minority in this new Congress. New York’s Tom Suozzi recently said it would be a mistake for Democrats to reflexively oppose Trump’s ideas and brand themselves a “national resistance movement.” Here’s a Democrat who won in a Trump district and he’s warning other Democrats. Do you agree that resistance was a bad strategy this time around?
House Speaker Pelosi: Well, I’m just saying, historically, when I became speaker, it was at a time when I was running against Republican President George Bush, and we opposed his policies. He wants to privatize Social Security. So we fought against that, but we won. And then when I was re-elected speaker and George Donald Trump became president, we stood up to him and said, we’re going to save the Affordable Care Act. This is – this is it. We saved Social Security in the first place. Now we’re saving the Affordable Care Act. So, yes, we won the majority by being divided on certain issues. That doesn’t mean you disagree on every issue, no. But it does mean that you protect the values that you brought into Congress, your vision for health care, your values for health care, again, because health care is a very important issue because the cost of health care is so high to As far as it affecting whether you can have a roof over your head, whether you can have food on the table, and other things. so-
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you would encourage Democrats to work with Donald Trump on issues like health care?
House Speaker Pelosi: I don’t know he wants health care.
Margaret Brennan: Any chance of working with him?
Dear Speaker Pelosi: No, on other issues. No. In health care, no. But no, just — well, we all — worked with George Bush on a lot of issues, and — there were a couple of issues, let me say, no, I don’t — I don’t say we should be on health care Cooperate with him. I’m saying we’re here to protect the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare sucks, he said. Now this is not something we want to work with, Obamacare sucks. So we want to save the Affordable Care Act and recognize that lowering health care costs keeps people housed, food on the table, and more. And that’s — there’s research that shows there’s a relationship between the ability to have housing and food when you have good, affordable care and health care.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Honorable Speaker, thank you for taking the time today.
Dear Speaker Pelosi: Thank you. I’m happy to be with you. Thanks.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be back with more “Face the Nation” soon. Stay with us.
