Pelosi: Here's Why I Ripped Up Trump's Speech

Speaker of the House defends her controversial State of the Union moment
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 6, 2020 2:05 PM CST
Pelosi: Here's Why I Ripped Up Trump's Speech
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference the morning after the impeachment of President Donald Trump ended in acquittal, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Trump-Pelosi speech-ripping feud continues. Nancy Pelosi said during her weekly news conference Thursday that she basically had to tear up her copy of President Trump's State of the Union address, Roll Call reports: "I tore up a manifesto of mistruths," she said, and those falsehoods (she said she doesn't like to use the word "lies") are "dangerous to the American people if they believe what he said." She continued, per CNN: "It was necessary to get the attention of the American people to say, 'This is not true. And this is how it affects you.'" "That was not a State of the Union, that was his state of mind," she added, accusing Trump of using the House chamber for a political rally or "reality show." As for accusations that her move was uncouth, Pelosi said, "I’m always dignified. I thought that was very dignified."

She also said her move "had nothing to do with" Trump previously ignoring her outstretched hand as he entered the chamber. "I extended a hand of friendship to him, to welcome him as the president of United States, to the people’s house. It was also an act of kindness because he looked to me a little sedated," she said, per the Washington Post. "He didn’t want to shake hands. That was that. That was nothing to me." House Republicans are planning to force a vote Thursday on a resolution disapproving of Pelosi's actions, which the Democratic majority is then expected to table, move, or kill. While she did not specifically reference that resolution, she did say, "I don’t need any lessons from anybody, especially the president of the United States, about dignity." (Trump addressed Pelosi both Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon.)

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