Nancy Pelosi Blasts GOP Claim She Set ‘Precedent’ To Kick Dems Off Committees: ‘We Said If You’re A Danger, You’re A Danger!’
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi objected when CNN anchor Chris Wallace asked if she’d “opened the door” for Republicans to kick Democratic members of Congress Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Ilhan Omar off of their committees.
The latest interviews from Wallace’s series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace feature Speaker Emerita Pelosi and Queen of Broadway Idina Menzel.
In his interview with Pelosi, Wallace played video of GOP leaders claiming Pelosi set a “precedent” by kicking Reps. Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor-Greene off of their committees. Pelosi ripped McCarthy and pointed out one major difference:
WALLACE: McCarthy says that he is going to kick three Democrats off their committees, here they are: Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, Ilhan Omar. And he says that you set the precedent because in the last session, the Democrats kick two Republicans, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Paul Gosar off their committees. Here are the GOP leaders talking about this.
(CLIP)
WALLACE: Didn’t you open the door to this?
PELOSI: No, we set a precedent which I hope they will follow. If they have members, as they did, who threatened the security of our members on the committee or a danger to our members, threatening them, then they will go off the committee. So if they have that accusation about any of our members, let’s hear what they have to say. It was clear that their members were a threat to our members. So this is about maintaining safety for our members. The fact that they want to take these people off the committee is philosophical. So, they have the votes they could take somebody off, but that’s for philosophical reasons. That’s not the precedent that we set. We said if you’re a danger, you’re a danger. You can’t be on the committee.
WALLACE: They would say Ilhan Omar has made a number of anti-semitic comments, they’d say Eric Swalwell had a relationship of some sort with an alleged Chinese spy. Those are legitimate reasons to kick them off their commitees.
PELOSI: Well, that’s not — there’s not legitimate reasons. If they want to do that, then that’s the precedent they are setting, but don’t say it’s a precedent that we set. We said these people are a danger to the other members of the committee and they’re threatening manner and the rest, and that’s why they’re going off the committee, because they’re a danger. If they want to set a thing about hearsay or rumor or actual statements that people make, then that’s a different precedent that they are setting.
But don’t say it is our precedent because ours isn’t. We are respecting freedom of speech and the rest and in terms of the Intelligence Committee, it’s not a reason, it’s an excuse.
Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace drops new episodes Fridays on HBO Max, with a highlights show on CNN Sunday night.
Watch the full exchange above via HBO Max and CNN.
