Christine Pelosi—the daughter of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi—criticized former President Donald Trump after he labeled one of Pelosi's daughters a “whacko” and claimed she had once told him that, under different circumstances, her mother and Trump “would be perfect together.”
His exact words, according to Punchbowl News, were:
"Nancy Pelosi’s daughter is a whacko, her daughter told me if things were different Nancy and I would be perfect together, there’s an age difference though."
Jake Sherman, the publication's founder, said he doesn't "know what this means, really," confirming that Trump had said this during a meeting with House Republicans.
You can see his post below.
Indeed, Trump made the remarks during a private meeting with Republican lawmakers in Washington, which was described as a policy meeting. He did not specify which of Pelosi’s daughters he was referring to, but added, “There is an age difference, though,” noting that Pelosi is several years older than he is. Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, is married to Melania Trump, who is 25 years his junior.
Christine Pelosi, a Democratic activist, later responded to the claim with the following message directed at the former president, whom she admonished for being "obsessed" with her mother:
"Speaking for all 4 Pelosi daughters — this is a LIE. His deceitful, deranged obsession with our mother is yet another reason Donald Trump is unwell, unhinged and unfit to step foot anywhere near her — or the White House."
You can see her post below.
Many concurred.
The animosity between Trump and Nancy Pelosi is well-documented, particularly during Trump’s presidency when she served as Speaker of the House.
His attack against her came after she said Trump and Republicans are engaging in "revisionist history" regarding the insurrection of January 6, 2021, the day a mob of Trump's supporters attacked the United States Capitol on the false premise the 2020 election had been stolen.
Trump previously accused her of "not properly securing" the Capitol on that day, falsely asserting that Pelosi could have or should have done more to prevent the attack. However, the responsibility for security lies not with Pelosi but with the Capitol Police and its board, which can request help from federal as well as Washington, D.C. authorities.
In a 2022 emailed statement to his supporters, Trump criticized the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the attack, demanding its members investigate Pelosi. At the same time, he insisted that the committee "wants nothing to do with that subject because they know it was the fault of Nancy Pelosi and, to a lesser extent, the Mayor of D.C."
While there were numerous warnings about the possibility of an attack, the Capitol Police planned only for a free speech demonstration and turned down offers of assistance from the Pentagon on two separate occasions.
Three days prior to the attack, the Pentagon had suggested deploying the National Guard. On the day of the attack, as the mob proceeded to attack the Capitol, the Pentagon suggested bringing in agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Capitol Police denied both offers of assistance, which ultimately handicapped the force's ability to contain the threat.
Aides and allies of the former president had pleaded with him to call for an end to the violence but Trump had initially resisted sending in the National Guard even as rioters grew progressively more violent.
In fact, Trump's refusal to respond, widely perceived as further evidence that he not only encouraged but ultimately endorsed the attack, forced Vice President Mike Pence to take the lead on the decision to mobilize the National Guard.
The insurrection's impact was felt even more when one of Trump's supporters, an election denier and QAnon adherent, attacked Pelosi's husband with a hammer. The suspect was later convicted of attempted murder and other charges and sentenced to 30 years in prison and 5 years of supervised release.
But Trump inflamed hostilities further by making light of the attack in remarks to his supporters, once mocking Pelosi's criticism of his immigration agenda by saying she's "against building a wall at our border even though she has a wall around her house, which obviously didn’t do a very good job.”