President Trump stepped in to defend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) amid escalating tensions between the Democratic leader and the progressive wing of her party.
Trump chastised Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for being “very disrespectful” to someone “who’s been there for a very long time.”
“I deal with Nancy Pelosi a lot, and we go back and forth and it’s fine, but I think that a group of people is being very disrespectful to her,” he said. “And you know what, I don’t think that Nancy can let that go on.”
“And I’ll tell you something about Nancy Pelosi,” he continued, “that I think you know better than I do. She is not a racist. Okay? She is not a racist. For them to call her a racist is a disgrace.”
Trump defends Pelosi: AOC should treat her with "respect" pic.twitter.com/xwGcHeFblX
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 12, 2019
The remarks are rich coming from President Trump, who regularly attacks Pelosi as a “nasty, vindictive, horrible person” and has nicknamed her “nervous Nancy.”
Trump has defended Pelosi in the past. As some Democrats argued for new blood at the top of the caucus leading up the 2018 midterms, Trump publicly argued that Pelosi should be allowed to take over as speaker if Democrats won the House.
Tensions have flared between Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi in recent days, as the freshman Democrat has accused Pelosi of targeting her and three other freshman Democratic lawmakers who are also women of color. She later clarified that she does not think Pelosi is a racist.
