News

Pelosi Opens Up to Reporter After She’s Asked About AOC

Nancy Pelosi came unglued on Thursday and cut a press conference short after reporters repeatedly asked her about freshman Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

It reportedly all started when Ocasio-Cortez gave an interview to The Washington Post in which she appeared to accuse Pelosi of being racist for isolating her as well as three other women of color who are new to Congress. These three other congresswomen were Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

“All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world, but they didn’t have any following,” Pelosi said of the women. “They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”

Ocasio-Cortez responded to Pelosi’s comments by indicating that she believed there were racist undertones to her words.

“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But the persistent singling out … it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful … the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”

Sign Petition for Trump to Officially Label Antifa a Terrorist Organization

Things got heated during Pelosi’s press conference on Thursday, when the House Minority Leader lost it as reporters refused to stop asking about Ocasio-Cortez.

“I’ve said what I’m going to say in the caucus,” Pelosi said, referring to a tense meeting among Democrats that occurred on Wednesday. “That’s where this is appropriate and I said what I’m going to say in the caucus. They took offense because I addressed — and the request of my members — an offensive tweet that came out of one of the members’ offices that referenced our Blue Dogs and our New Dems essentially as segregationists. Our members took offense at that. I addressed that. How they’re interpreting that and carrying it to another place, it up to them.”

“But I’m not going to be discussing it any further,” Pelosi concluded, snapping at the reporter.

The next reporter to ask a question returned to this topic, pointing out that Pressley described Pelosi’s response as “demoralizing.”

Pelosi refused to let the reporter finish the question.

“I’ve said what I’m going to say. With all due respect, I don’t know, maybe you didn’t hear what I said,” Pelosi snapped sarcastically. “I said what I’m going to say on the subject.”

After calling for “unity” in the Democrat caucus and warning reporters not to “waste your question,” an aide made the call for “last question” and proceeded to remove Pelosi from the press conference. This will undoubtedly not be the last time that Pelosi has to answer for controversies created by Ocasio-Cortez.

Share your opinion

COMMENT POLICY: We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, hard-core profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment!