Pelosi Rejects Rep. Cori Bush’s Continued ‘Defund the Police’ Push: ‘With All Due Respect … That’s Not the Position of the Democratic Party’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) made clear that “defund the police” is not the position of the Democratic party, amid a renewed push from a prominent Democratic congresswoman.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week Sunday, host George Stephanopoulos confronted the speaker about comments from Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who affirmed her support for the slogan “defund the police” earlier this week, and claimed to be feeling pressure from Democratic colleagues to change her rhetoric.

“‘Defund the police’ is not the problem,” Bush said, in comments reported by Axios and others. “We dangled the carrot in front of people’s faces and said we can get it done and that Democrats deliver, when we haven’t totally delivered.”

Bush added, “I always tell [fellow Democrats], ‘If you all had fixed this before I got here, I wouldn’t have to say these things.'”

Pelosi flatly rejected that Bush is speaking for the entire party.

“With all due respect in the world for Cori Bush, that’s not the position of the Democratic party,” Pelosi said. “Community safety, protect and defend in every way, is our oath of office.”

She added, quoting Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), “Defund the police is dead.”

Pelosi went on to praise Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) and New York City Mayor Eric Adams for their more aggressive anti-crime push. Bass has called for an increase in police hiring and the overall budget.