Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said Sunday on CBS News’ Face the Nation that it’s “really sad” President-elect Donald Trump continues to claim he won the 2020 election and that he should instead be “triumphant” about his 2024 election victory.
Why It Matters
Representative Pelosi has long been a leading critic of Trump. She led the House for a portion of Trump’s first administration and was in charge when the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot broke out after Trump lost the 2020 election.
The president-elect continues to claim that he won the 2020 election over President Joe Biden, citing widespread voter fraud as the reason for his defeat, despite providing no evidence to back up his claims.
Trump did not meet with Biden prior to the 2020 presidential transition, continuing to dispute the results and delaying initial access to briefings. In total, 147 Republican lawmakers voted to overturn the 2020 election.
In the November 2024 presidential election, Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris. The results are scheduled to be certified on January 6, with no Democratic lawmakers expected to overturn them.
What To Know
On Monday, it will be four years since thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, attempting to prevent Biden’s election victory from being certified. Rioters broke through security and gained access to the House floor, invading the offices of numerous elected officials, including Pelosi.
The House impeached Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” but the measure failed to secure the two-thirds majority needed for conviction in the Senate.
When Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan asked Pelosi on Sunday why “so many Americans decided that Donald Trump’s support for the rioters in 2020 should not disqualify him from a second term as president,” Pelosi cited economic factors as the most likely reason for Trump’s support in the 2024 election, in which he won the popular vote and the Electoral College.
“I don’t call this a disregard of January 6, I just call it something that they saw in their interest, economically,” Pelosi claimed.
Despite winning office again, Trump continues to claim victory in 2020. According to Brennan, on January 4, Trump watched segments of a documentary featuring conservative lawyer John Eastman, a supporter of the “Stop the Steal” movement.
Pelosi stated that “it’s really sad” that Trump continues to claim victory.
She went on to say, “It’s almost sick that he’s thinking like that in 2020. He’s won the election now, that’s clear…and tomorrow, he’ll accept the results of the Electoral College, so he should be triumphant—but to be still fighting a fight he knows he lost is really sad.”
Trump has pledged to pardon rioters when he takes office on January 20.
Over 1,500 people have been charged with crimes related to the riot, with over 1,000 of them convicted and sentenced. Of those sentenced, approximately two-thirds received prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.
What People Are Saying
Former U.S. Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell told the Washington Post that Trump’s pledge to pardon rioters: “It’s a betrayal, a stab in the heart.”
Former GOP Representative Liz Cheney, a Trump critic, wrote about Trump in an X, formerly Twitter, post on Friday: “You can’t change the truth and you cannot silence us. Remember all your lies about the voting machines, the election workers, your countless allegations of fraud that never happened? Many of your lawyers have been sanctioned, disciplined or disbarred, the courts ruled against you, and dozens of your own White House, administration, and campaign aides testified against you. Remember how you sent a mob to our Capitol and then watched the violence on television and refused for hours to instruct the mob to leave? Remember how your former Vice President prevented you from overturning our Republic? We remember. And now, as you take office again, the American people need to reject your latest malicious falsehoods and stand as the guardrails of our Constitutional Republic—to protect the America we love from you.”
President-elect Donald Trump in a December appearance on NBC News’Â Meet the Press:Â “I’m going to be acting very quickly [pardoning January 6 rioters]…First day…They’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.”
What Happens Next
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee for nearly 100 days after Biden stepped down, will preside over the joint congressional session that certifies the results. Four years ago, Vice President Mike Pence defied Trump by certifying the results.