Furious Nancy Pelosi crashes press conference to tear into Mitch McConnell, rage at ‘cowardly’ Republican senators for voting to acquit Trump – and shut down censure as a ‘slap on the face of the Constitution’
- An animated and furious Nancy Pelosi crashed House impeachment managers’ post-trial press conference in a rage
- She lashed out at Mitch McConnell and called Republicans ‘cowardly’ for voting to stop Donald Trump from being convicted for ‘incitement of insurrection’
- ‘It had not been my intention to come to this press availability,’ Pelosi said
- ‘But what we saw today was a cowardly group of Republicans who apparently have no options because they were afraid to… respect [Congress]’
- McConnell argued in floor remarks after voting to acquit Trump Saturday, that Congress didn’t have the jurisdiction to go after a former president
Nancy Pelosi crashed the House impeachment manager’s post-trial press conference Saturday to rage against Mitch McConnell and call out Republicans’ ‘cowardly’ vote to stop Donald Trump from being convicted for ‘incitement of insurrection’.
‘It had not been my intention to come to this press availability,’ Pelosi said as she spoke to reporters on the fifth and final day of the Senate proceedings. ‘But what we saw today was a cowardly group of Republicans who apparently have no options because they were afraid to defend their job – respect the institution in which they serve.’
‘But why I came over was because I listened to Mitch McConnell,’ Pelosi continued.
McConnell took the Senate floor shortly after Democrats failed to earn the two-thirds votes needed to convict the former president – and the Republican leader argued Congress no longer had jurisdiction over Trump’s actions because is no longer president.
Pelosi angrily recounted the events of January where McConnell, who was still Senate majority leader at the time, refused to accept the impeachment article against Trump before Joe Biden’s inauguration.
‘So for him to get up there and make this indictment against the president and then say, ‘but I can’t vote for it because it’s after the fact.’ The fact that he established! The fact that he established that it could not be delivered after the inauguration.’
Nancy Pelosi crashed the House impeachment manager’s post-trial press conference in an angry rage, lashing out at Mitch McConnell and calling Republicans ‘cowardly’ for voting to stop Donald Trump from being convicted for ‘incitement of insurrection’
McConnell argued in floor remarks after acquitting Trump, that Congress didn’t have the jurisdiction to go after a former president
When asked about censuring the ex-president, Pelosi asserted that didn’t go nearly far enough.
‘Oh these cowardly senators who couldn’t face up to what the president did and what was at stake for our country are now going to have a chance to give a little slap on the wrist,’ she said as she physically gave herself a slap on the wrist.
‘We censure people for using stationary for the wrong purpose,’ she said, picking up a few pieces of paper laying on the podium and waving them around.
She added: ‘We don’t censure people for inciting insurrections.’
Pelosi suggested Republicans voted to not convict Trump because they ‘can’t get another job’ and want to make sure they are reelected.
‘What is so important about any one of us, what is so important about the political survival about any one of us that is more important than our Constitution that we take an oath to protect and defend?’ she questioned, shaking at times with anger.
‘All the things he said – oh my gosh – about Donald Trump and how horrible he was, and is, and then say but the time that the House chose to bring it over – no we didn’t, you chose not to receive it,’ she lashed out.
McConnell suggested that while he felt Congress couldn’t pursue charges against Trump, that he could still be held criminally liable.
‘President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office,’ McConnell said in Senate floor remarks.
‘He didn’t get away with anything, yet,’ he continued. ‘We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation and former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one.’
Pelosi, who tried to leave the room two separate times but walked back to the podium to add more, was livid.
‘Remember when he talked about, when he talked about incitement, he said he didn’t think this rose to the level,’ she said. ‘So he was hedging all over the place.’
‘I don’t know if it was for donors, or what, or whatever it was, it was a very disingenuous speech and I say that regretfully because I always want to be able to work with the leadership of the other party,’ the California Democrat added.