Pelosi snaps at reporter in mafia-like stare-down when asked very legitimate question: ‘Am I speaking English to you’
Nancy Pelosi told an ABC reporter to “fuhgeddaboudit” after the former House speaker was questioned about whether Joe Biden should remain in the White House race.
The veteran Democrat, who is older than Biden at 84, invoked her Italian background to keep her questioner at bay after Biden’s chaotic performance during the first presidential debate.
After repeatedly trying to dodge questions, Pelosi wagged her fingers and demanded omerta from the reporter.
“Am I speaking English to you?” she demanded, stopping abruptly and squeezing her fingers. “I’m not going to say anything about this in the hallway.”
As Speaker of the House, Pelosi was critical to securing Biden’s legislative ambitions, and he awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom two months ago
Biden’s staunch ally is seen as one of the few within the party with the authority to convince the president that his time is up.
“It’s up to the president to decide whether or not to run,” she said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running out.”
But the president had already indicated he had decided to run, leading to speculation that Pelosi wanted him to reconsider, knowing that any attempt to impeach him would divide the party.
Her cryptic comments prompted reporters to follow her, and ABC’s Rachel Scott spotted her walking through a hallway on Capitol Hill.
“Did you relay to President Biden what you said this morning?” the reporter asked.
“I’m not going to have any discussions with you or anybody else about what I’m talking about with the president, with all due respect,” Pelosi said. “I never do, so it’s nothing new.”
“I understand, Madam Chairman,” Scott replied. “Do you believe he waited this long to make this decision..”
“I’m not going to make any statements in the halls today about the fate of our country, okay?” Pelosi responded.
“Are you concerned about whether he can win in November?” Scott asked.
“I think he can win in November,” Pelosi replied with an icy smile.
Vermont Sen. Peter Welch on Wednesday became the first Democratic senator to call on President Joe Biden to end his re-election campaign
Welch said the American public can no longer undo President Joe Biden’s disastrous presidential debate performance late last month
“Do you think he should run again?” Scott persisted as she tried to get a straight answer.
She was probably thankful that Pelosi was only wearing stilettos when she saw the former House Speaker suddenly stop, stare at her and ask if she understood English.
The exchange sparked a social media frenzy, with some accusing the veteran Democrat of being condescending toward the black reporter.
“I know Nancy Pelosi didn’t look a Black woman in the eye and say, ‘Am I speaking English to you?’” tweeted Black Republican congressional candidate Laverne Spicer.
“This is one of the most racist things she’s ever done and there’s a whole list of things like that!”
“Girl, you have no business talking to a sister like that!”
Others had more sympathy for the elderly Democrat who could not escape her pursuer down a seemingly endless corridor.
“Maybe it was because she had to say something THREE TIMES and you still pretended not to understand what she said?” asked another.
“She would have said the same thing to a white person who asked the same question,” Mary Witkowski tweeted. “Nancy Pelosi is a pig to every conservative.”
The tense debate came as New York Rep. Pat Ryan became the eighth House member to call for Biden to withdraw from the race.
“I would be doing him a disservice if I said he is the best candidate to serve this fall,” the congressman said.
Pelosi said she urged her colleagues to keep their concerns to themselves until the president finishes hosting this week’s NATO conference.
Pelosi’s importance to Biden’s decision was underscored by a series of interventions from Donald Trump on his Truth Social network on Wednesday night
And on Wednesday night, Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to call on the president to end his re-election campaign.
Pelosi told MSNBC that she is urging her colleagues to keep their concerns to themselves until the president hosts the NATO conference this week.
“I told everyone, let’s wait a little longer,” she insisted.
“Whatever you’re thinking, tell someone in secret, but you don’t have to put it on the table until we see how it went this week.”
And Pelosi’s possible role in the outcome has not gone unnoticed by Donald Trump, who questioned her abilities on his network Truth Social on Wednesday night.
“Crazy Nancy Pelosi is a cognitive mess,” he claimed. “She’s now turned on Crooked Joe.”
‘She’s basically saying he doesn’t have the qualities needed.
‘Really? I’d love to debate her about what the radical left Democrats have done to ruin our country.
“She wouldn’t last five minutes.”