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

Contact: Speaker's Press Office,

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Nicolle Wallace. A soaring tribute today at the memorial service for Congressman John Lewis, where he's lying in state at the Capitol Rotunda, the first black lawmaker in this country's history to receive that honor. Before reaching the Capitol, Congressman Lewis's body made stops at key locations in Washington, D.C. today, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and Black Lives Matter Plaza. It is the place, the spot of Congressman Lewis' final public appearance.

Yesterday, in a moving scene, the Congressman's body was taken over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, one last time. It was his march over that same bridge 55 years earlier on what would become known as Bloody Sunday that inspired the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Joining us now, his colleague and friend, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. How are you doing today, Madam Speaker?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, we're happy that he's getting such a beautiful sendoff, we're sad that we'll be losing him. I served with him for 33 years in the Congress, he is my dear friend. But all of us consider this a death in the family.

Nicolle Wallace. Do you think that his vision is realized in what we still see on the streets of so many cities, these protests after the murder of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter memorials popping up around this country, New York City and Washington, and does it make his mission, does it make this election more urgent to you?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, of course this election is urgent for many reasons, but what we're talking about here is our democracy. What John Lewis was always about was a more perfect union, about bringing people together. So, yes, this is a continuation of his values, to see these young people out on the street. He knew that his work was not done, that more needed to be done.

And that's why it was so happy that he went, that the last thing he did, action he took when he left Washington, D.C. – several weeks ago, he left the hospital, he went to Black Lives Matter Plaza, met the Mayor of Washington there, and then his picture is there, looking to the future. There he is, John Lewis, standing on the Black Lives Matter tapestry. It was a connection from when he was here, speaking in 1963 at the March on Washington and then passing the torch on to the future.

Nicolle Wallace. I want to ask you about this standoff, really, with the White House and with Republicans over unemployment help for so many Americans who are still out of work, with really no sign of that changing anytime soon, as the pandemic is spiking in most parts of this country. How is that going? And people are really scared. Can you reassure them?

Speaker Pelosi. You know, people are very scared. I said John's loss was like a death in our family. Well, nearly 150,000 families in our country have had a death in the family. Over four million people have had – been infected by this virus. We must defeat the virus if we're going to open our economy and open our schools. In the meantime, children are food insecure, millions of children are hungry, many people cannot pay their rent, some of them single moms. Families are not, will not – are going to have their Unemployment Insurance expire.

And what are the Republicans – ten weeks ago, two and a half months ago, we passed a bill, The Heroes Act, to improve that situation. The Republicans said then that they need a ‘pause.' Now they have still not produced anything. We'll see this afternoon what they'll come up with, but they describe it as ‘piecemeal.'

You can't. People are hungry. They need rent, they need Unemployment Insurance. Our state and local governments need assistance that they deserve and need, because of coronavirus. Again, testing, testing, testing. The President said he's going to do everything he can not to have testing in the bill. How about that? I mean, what do they say in the White House? ‘Don't let science stand in the way of sending our kids to school.' What is this?

So anyway, let's just find our common ground. This morning, I issued a challenge to the Administration. I said, within a half an hour of their putting forth their proposal, I want to see them in my – in the Speaker's office with Chuck Schumer there, as well, so that we can compare our bills and see. I think it will be a contrast, but nonetheless, to see where we can find our common ground.

Again, how can you say, ‘Let's have trickle-down, let's have trickle-down,' when people are hungry and again, food uncertain, rent uncertain, no money in their pockets. Our bill, The Heroes Act, it does, it honors our heroes, state and local government, teachers, health care workers, food suppliers, sanitation workers, transportation workers and the rest. And attacks the virus: testing, tracing, treating, distancing; therefore, opening our economy. And third, puts money in the pockets of the American people. Not by trickle-down, but by bubble-up.

Nicolle Wallace. I – so there are – I just want to understand where things stand right now and where you're willing to go. They proposed $200 a week. You are holding at $600 a week. Do you see a compromise or you going to hold the line?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, let's just put it this way. I mean, I just leave it up to the American people. There are trillions of dollars being used now by the fed and our government to bolster the stock market. The stock market's in good shape, right? And that may be a good idea. Why can't we spend trillions of dollars to bolster the middle class?

So, when they talk about what they're talking about, we're like, why are you quibbling over $600, when people need that to buy food, pay the rent and again, inject demand into the economy by spending that money, inject demand and create jobs? When they fire the state and local government employees, they're going on Unemployment Insurance. So, where is the savings in all of that?

We are at a place – there is a big difference between trickle-down and bubble-up. And the difference between the two parties in this is drastic. Let's put that all aside and see if we can't find our common ground in this emergency.

But let us do so respecting science, respecting – meeting the needs of the American people and understanding that our economy grows when we have consumer confidence, not when we just say, ‘Let's just bolster the top end, but not worry about the middle class.'

Nicolle Wallace. Madam Speaker, Attorney General Barr is making his way to Capitol Hill tomorrow to testify about a myriad of issues, but he comes after you and your colleagues have sent a letter asking for the FBI Director, who's sort of housed under DOJ, to offer a defensive briefing to all of you about election interference. And I know there are some intelligence that's still classified that you can't talk to us about, but what are you hoping to learn from AG Barr tomorrow? What are you going to press him on?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, I think it's really important for people to know that Attorney General Barr is there to protect Donald Trump. He's not there as the Attorney General of the people of the United States. And I think it's quite self-evident in all of his actions that he has not acted in the people's interest, whether it was in Lafayette Square, as you referenced, whether it's in Portland, whether it was Ukraine and his misrepresentation of the Mueller report.

I'm – I'm so pleased that some of the former presidents of the ABA have been calling for an investigation as to whether he has acted in a way appropriate for an attorney, because I think he certainly has not.

So, I think that the Members tomorrow – of course, it's the Judiciary Committee. We've hoped that he will show up and that when he does, they will show a standard of what attorneys general's responsibilities are and how he is not meeting them and get some answers from him about Lafayette Square, stormtroopers going on to the streets of the United States, misrepresenting what happened in Ukraine.

But right now, it's about the here and now in our country. And that's what we hope to hear from him is, how this President is undermining the Constitution of the United States, even suggesting that he might not leave if he doesn't get elected. Well, don't worry about that. It's a tactic. You know why they do that? They do that to discourage the vote so that people say, ‘Why should I vote? He ain't leaving anyway.' No, he's leaving. He's leaving. It's a scare tactic.

Nicolle Wallace. Madam Speaker, will you ask him to commit to the FBI Director giving you that defensive briefing that you've asked for?

Speaker Pelosi. I'm sorry? Your question was, was I asking? What I'm saying is –

Nicolle Wallace. Will you ask Attorney General Barr to commit to briefing House Democrats on the intelligence and your concerns about election interference?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, that's up to the Members of the Committee. They have their priorities, but I will say this: we sent that letter because we believe that our electoral system is in jeopardy. The President of the United States has spoken to Putin, what, seven times since the end of March and has never brought it up.

This undermining of our electoral system is undermining our Constitution. So, when, hopefully, they will ask the Attorney General that, they'll have their priorities, because there's so much to ask him about.

But I'll say this: since we sent our letter, the Intelligence Community put out a pathetic excuse for an answer. It was embarrassing for them. They tried to – well, let me just say, it did not meet the standard at all of what the American people expect and deserve.

Now, I see what is happening, because I'm Gang of Eight. But we want the American people to know what is happening and the intelligence community owes them that. Part of the Intelligence Community is the FBI. Part of that is under – part of the intelligence gathering in our country is under the Attorney General. But understand this: he is – the Attorney General owes a great deal of explanation to the American people. The Committee will prioritize how they go forward.

We've already held him in contempt of Congress, so our view of him is well known. But the American people's knowledge of what he has done as a disservice to them is something they will find out more about tomorrow, if he even shows up.

Nicolle Wallace. We will be watching. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, thank you so much for spending some time with us on a very busy day. We're grateful.

Speaker Pelosi. Always my pleasure. Thank you.