Transcript of Pelosi Interview on MSNBC's Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace

Contact: Speaker's Press Office,

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Nicolle Wallace. Following a major public revolt around allegations that the Trump Administration is sabotaging the United States Postal Service ahead of November's election, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy today announced in a statement that he is suspending policy and operational changes until after the election. However, the statement did not include a commitment to restore the agency back to its full capacity, merely that they'd stopped doing what they've been doing the last few weeks.

Just this afternoon, we learned at least 20 states plan to file lawsuits in federal court seeking to reverse service changes. Congress is taking action, too. The Postmaster General will appear in front of a Senate Committee on Friday and a House Committee on Monday.

In the meantime, Politico reports the House is expected to vote on Saturday on legislation that would deliver $25 billion to address funding shortfalls and to block organizational changes. Joining us on this breaking news, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Speaker Pelosi, I know you brought everybody back to deal with this. Do you feel that the crisis is averted or you may just have someone at the table in the Postmaster General who is coming to testify Friday and Monday?

Speaker Pelosi. Hello, Nicolle. Congratulations on your expanded presentation to the country. We're all delighted with that.

Let me just say, nice try – not so nice try on the part of the Postmaster General. What he did was take three big steps forward and took one baby step back, and that just doesn't do it for us.

We will be voting on Saturday to ensure that not only do they reverse what they did, but they caused such damage that they're going to have to show us how they, not only restore going forward, but this isn't just about the election, this is about the coronavirus. This is a health issue and it has to go well beyond the election. It also has to, as our bill calls for, treat mail ballots as first class mail so they will be sorted in a timely fashion and people's votes will be counted as cast in a timely fashion.

Nicolle Wallace. You know, I wonder what you do with the fact that Trump says it all out loud. It's all out there that all of this was about making it harder for people to vote. And as you said, it's a baby step backward, but polls show that some of the damage has already been done. I think upward of 40 percent of Americans already worry that their ballot won't be counted.

Speaker Pelosi. Well, you're very astute to point that out and what I've said to people is don't pay any attention to him. His purpose is to jeopardize the integrity of the election by scaring people that their vote won't count so what's the use of even voting. So, ignore him. The more attention is paid to his falsehoods, that's good for him, rather than saying to people, just make a plan.

What is your plan to vote? One thing your plan must do: include voting early, whether by mail or hopefully – but as our bill calls for, not this bill, but the bill that we have in the COVID package, the legislation regarding elections, which says that in the interest of the coronavirus, there has to be spacing. Therefore, there have to be more polling places, open longer, many more days, and again, enabling people to vote without risking their health. The best way to do that, of course, is to vote-by-mail, but vote absentee and that requires money. Both of them require money, and that's what's in our bill.

Nicolle Wallace. Madam Speaker, I was thinking about this testimony in the same way I thought of the testimony, during the impeachment investigation, of Gordon Sondland. You know, a Trump crony who comes in and says, ‘I was just doing what I was told to do.' What do you expect to hear from Mr. DeJoy when he testifies?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, I would hope we'd hear the truth, but what I have heard, Leader Schumer and I heard in our – at the negotiating table when we asked him to come in, was just a rationale but certainly not a justification for what he was doing. And what they're doing is following up on their ongoing plan. They have always wanted to privatize the Post Office. They wanted to do that so they don't have to contend with collective bargaining, the beautiful diversity, the fact that nearly 100,000 veterans both work at the Post Office and that is part of the Post Office agenda. And so this is a continuation of that.

But it comes at a time when they want to discredit the election, so you see the Senate report a bipartisan, Republican-led Senate saying what is happening that – it takes your breath away to see the communication that Russians, people associated with the Russian government had ongoing conversations with the Trump campaign and with the Trump family. So, it's again about undermining the integrity of the election. It's about dishonoring your oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Nicolle Wallace. I want to ask you about that Senate Intel Committee report. It's a Republican-led Committee affirming what Robert Mueller said and what others who have looked at this have said. It also finds that Donald Trump lied to the Special Counsel's office in his responses about his conversations with Roger Stone.

And I just asked Andrew Weissmann this question, who obviously served on the Special Counsel's office, whether it is fair as a voter to feel that everyone has tried to hold him accountable, including the Special Counsel, including Congress, has failed? And if that's not fair, please push back. But what is the reassurance that ahead of November we can stop any more of this interference or egging it on from the Trump campaign?

Speaker Pelosi. Frankly, I think that I'm very, very proud of the House of Representatives, our Lead Manager Adam Schiff, the Chair of the Intelligence Committee, and our Committee. We went forward. We impeached the President of the United States. Whether the Senate decided to honor – the Republicans in the Senate decided to honor their oath of office is another thing. I don't think they did. But what matters is that the record shows this President was impeached.

Your previous guest didn't point out that we had a limited access of information because the Mueller report was not able – that whole investigation was not able to go into the President's finances. They were barred from doing that. And that is where a lot of the truth lies.

So, when we have a Democratic president in January and we have a Democrat – a new Secretary of the Treasury, and the Chairman Richie Neal of the Ways and Means Committee asks for the President's tax returns, we'll see then what the President has been trying to hide.

And as I have said, including in that photo with that blue suit –

Nicolle Wallace. Yes.

Speaker Pelosi. Pointing to the President, I said, ‘Mr. President, with all – with you all roads lead to Putin.'

Nicolle Wallace. I want to ask you if you have any doubt, this would require some speculation, if you have any doubt that, what we learned from Mueller was that Russia aided Trump's candidacy and the Trump campaign welcomed it. What we learned from the Senate Intel report – I think they described it as an intricate web of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence. We also learned that Trump lied when he said to the special counsel he wasn't talking to his advisers about Wikileaks.

Do you have any doubt that Trump was aware of Russian efforts to help him in 2016 and do you think he's doing that again in 2020?

Speaker Pelosi. I'd rather look forward, if I may. I don't think there was any doubt that he was aware. He even said he would invite. He didn't even know that it was wrong to do, he has no scruples. We're dealing with something very odd and different from anything we've seen before. This isn't about partisanship. It's about patriotism for our country, which he sorely lacks.

Now – and as we go forward, we know that the Intelligence Committee has said publicly, not that I can repeat, that 24/7, the Russians are interfering in our election. This time we will be better informed, more vigilant than was, than happened in 2016, as they were successful, they were – with their bots, they were poisoning the social media. It was evil, and it was undermining the precious right to vote, which is the DNA, the fundamental of our democracy. And Donald Trump said he would invite such a thing, foreign intervention.

So, as we go forward, and let's just think about as we go forward, we'll have an after-action review on this Administration in a very short period of time. But in 77 days, we are having an election, a chance to take back our country in the way that would make our Founders proud, addresses the aspirations of our children and, again, is worthy of the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform who fight for our freedom and our democracy and our Constitution. So, let's go forward with that.

And I think the Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee did a service to the country. It's a Republican-led committee, in a bipartisan way put forth what they agreed to put forth, and there may be more, about the Russian interference in our election. Again, breathtaking the contacts of the Russians with the family and the campaign of Donald Trump.

Nicolle Wallace. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it's always a privilege to get to spend some time asking you these questions. Thank you.

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you. Especially at this time. We're very proud of our Convention. Wasn't it wonderful last night? And three more days.

Nicolle Wallace. Well, look ahead to – look ahead to tonight. Some of what we're talking about, I expect, Sally Yates who is one of tonight's speakers, may address. What are you looking forward to tonight and the rest of the week? And I know you have an appearance as well.

Speaker Pelosi. Mine is tomorrow, on Wednesday. I think all of it is great. I love when they involve Americans, everyday Americans to tell their story. I thought last night was great. Of course, Michelle was other-worldly, so beautiful, so generous of spirit to share what she shared and then pragmatic in terms of her recommendations. But also, Bernie Sanders. I thought he was fabulous. And it was great that John Kasich was there. I think that was a very big plus for us because we do have to find our common ground as we go forward.

We are very, shall we say, enthusiastically Democratic, progressive as we go forward. But we want to hear other views and make sure as we go forward we are – E Pluribus Unum – honoring what our Founders guided us to be, from many, one.

Nicolle Wallace. I know you have to go, but it's interesting you mentioned John Kasich. He's generated some debate. It was my sense he's there to represent the broad coalition that Joe Biden has and plans to build on ahead of November. Some people didn't like seeing him there, but you think it was a good idea to showcase those four Republicans?

Speaker Pelosi. Oh, yes. Yes, I do. By the way, I say to my Republican friends and I do have some, Nicolle, you know that.

Nicolle Wallace. I know that.

Speaker Pelosi. I say to them: take back your party. This isn't who you are. You're the Grand Old Party. You've done so much for our country. You've been hijacked by a cult-like group of people and others who are afraid of defying the cult leader. This isn't what the Republican Party has been about in our country. Let's go back to our normal debate of the role of government in the lives of the American people as our Founders intended, in a way that respects disagreement as we find our common ground, but understand that we must come together.

Nicolle Wallace. I miss the days. The days before grown men and women weren't afraid of a mean tweet.

[Laughter]

Speaker, it's a privilege –

Speaker Pelosi. We yearn for George Bush to be President of the United States, John McCain –

[Laughter]

Nicolle Wallace. From your lips.

[Laughter]

Speaker Pelosi. Anyway. In any event, congratulations to you on your expanded presentation. We all look forward to seeing you bringing your bipartisan, if you say that, but at least from the perspective of a Republican –

Nicolle Wallace. Thank you.

Speaker Pelosi. Your view to what's happening in our country.

Nicolle Wallace. Thank you. I appreciate you always come on and engage with us. We always learn very much. Thank you, Madam Speaker, so much.

Speaker Pelosi. It's my pleasure. Thank you.