Speaker Pelosi Remarks at CNN Town Hall on January 6th

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi participated in a CNN Town Hall "Live from The Capitol: January 6, One Year Later" hosted by Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper on Thursday, January 6, 2022 from Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Anderson Cooper. And we're joined right now by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Thank you so much for being with us.

One year ago tonight, at this moment, 8:00 p.m., you were on the way back here.

Speaker Pelosi. Yes.

Anderson Cooper. And that was important: to come back here to finish the nation's business?

Speaker Pelosi. That was very important.

First, let me welcome you to the Capitol, to Statuary Hall –

Anderson Cooper. It's extraordinary.

Speaker Pelosi. – which, in its early days, was the Chamber of the House of Representatives, where Abraham Lincoln served – and others, some of whom would become president.

Anderson Coper. His desk was right over there.

Speaker Pelosi. His desk is right there. Well, welcome to the Capitol.

Yes, at that time, we were on our way back. And the decision – let me just back up. While this is going on, and while our Members – and you'll be hearing from some of them, we're very proud of the testimonies they presented today. The Members who were in the Gallery and on the Floor while all this was going on – while that was happening, we were in an undisclosed location, and we were fighting to get the National Guard. And, it was very hard.

Anderson Cooper. You were on the phone making calls?

Speaker Pelosi. Yes, making calls. Chuck Schumer and I, Steny Hoyer, we were on the phone making calls about this. Calling governors to make sure that they – we understood the readiness of their folks to come. One of the Under – Assistant, or whatever you call them – Secretaries of Defense, McCarthy kept saying, ‘Well, it's hard, and it takes time. I got to talk to my boss, and I haven't had a chance to go see him.' There was really a delay. And then, by the time we spoke to the Acting Secretary of Defense, it was like, ‘Well, we're going to do this or that.' And it was just –

Anderson Cooper. Did it make sense to you, that they were delaying?

Speaker Pelosi. No, it was inexplicable. It just made no sense at all. They'd say – and it is hard to activate the National Guard, you have to start early. They said they had the authority here, but they didn't have the permission to exercise it.

Anderson Cooper. Is that why you think the January 6th Commission is so important, to find out exactly what happened one year ago today here?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, the facts and the whole thing – the set-up, what went before, what happened during – that's very important. And what's happening after. So, it's the before, the during and the after.

But the fact is that the presence of the National Guard earlier would have – you would have a different story to tell.

Anderson Cooper. Did you call the White House that day to try to get the National Guard?

Speaker Pelosi. We called the authority, which is the Department of Defense. And, they had one excuse or another. But, that's why we had to try to change the law, so that the District of Columbia would have its authority to call in the National Guard. Any state can, but not the District of Columbia.

But, anyway, that's one thing we're doing. The other thing is we then have to decide, because people were saying, ‘Well, we'll just bring busloads of Members of Congress over to the undisclosed location, and then you can affect the – obey the Constitution and do it there. I said, ‘No, no, we're going back. We're going back to the Capitol.' And, that was agreed upon in a bipartisan way. Chuck will tell you that as well. So, at eight o'clock that night, same time as now, we're on our – we're just about getting here to open up the House.

Anderson Cooper. There's – it's been a solemn day. There have been a lot of Members of the House, Members of Senate, who have talked about what went on. We have not heard from a lot of Republicans today. What do you make of that? Why – a lot of Republicans say, ‘Look, the Democrats are using this for political purposes, they can't let it go.' There are numbers of Members in your House who are Republican who have said, you know, the – ‘it wasn't that bad.' That it was a day like any other.

Speaker Pelosi. Well, let's not spend a lot of time on their excuses and whining. The fact is: it was a terrible thing that happened. An assault on the Capitol, an assault on the Constitution, so that we did not ratify – arrange for the peaceful transfer of power, an assault on our Democracy. They can say whatever they want, but you have to ask them why they would not want to show up for something that they knew was wrong.

Anderson Cooper. Former Vice President Cheney was here today to hear you speak with his daughter, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, obviously who is so important on that Commission. What did you make of seeing the former Vice President here?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, I didn't know he was coming. And, when I went to call the House to order, well there he was. I looked, and I saw him. And I was happy to see him. As you may be aware – that Dick Cheney served in the House of Representatives, so he has Floor privileges as a former Member of the House. That he would come this day with Liz Cheney, his, as you know, his daughter, was quite a statement on his part, one that was well-received by the rest of us. We've had had our disagreements, but never a disagreement as to whether everybody was committed to honoring our oath of office, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Anderson Coper. There are so many Republicans who have not taken part in today's events. If we, as a people, can't even agree on what happened here one year ago, if we can't share basic truths and accept norms of behavior, how can we pursue the common good?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, we have to pursue the common good. Because, some of them were perpetrators, some of them were aware. And, they're in denial. That doesn't mean that we have to meet them halfway. No, we are upholding our oath of office to protect and defend.

Now, we have, over time – and our Founders anticipated disagreement. They disagreed. And President Washington, right from the start, President Washington, he brought the Constitution to the Congress – that would become the Congress – and he said to them, ‘This Constitution will enable government to allow for the rigorous debate, that would be tempered by the goodwill and good spirits of the American people, in order to let the best angels of our nature prevail.'

Anderson Cooper. That is the genius of our Constitution: it's full of compromises, but it's also based on the idea that humans are fallible and there are times when we are not going to live up to our ideals. And that is why there are checks and balances.

Speaker Pelosi. Well, the checks and balances – thank you for mentioning that. That's the genius of the Constitution: checks and balances. Three separate branches of government, coequal branches of government, each a check on the other. If you have a president who disrespects the Congress of the United States – well, the Founders even allowed for that. They figured there could be a rogue president, and that's where they have impeachment in the Constitution. They didn't figure we'd have a rogue president and a rogue Senate.

Anderson Cooper. One of the things that we have learned, that has come out of the last several years, is how much of our democracy depends, though, on norms of behavior, accepted norms. And people, good people, can disagree about things and see things completely differently. But, that there are just norms of behavior. And, when you have leaders who are willing to ignore those norms, who are shameless, then our democracy is in real peril. How do you fix that?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, first let me just get back to your other question. We have to – or how else how are we going to work together? We must work together. And, a democracy is predicated on the idea that people will have different views. It's not a monarchy where everybody thinks the same, or we might as well stay home and let that one person decide. So, we have to reach that place. And, in order to do that, there has to be norms of behavior. No one is above [the] law, no matter who he or she is. The President of the United States is not above the law. We must respect the law. And, that is what they have not done in this case.

But, in the system of checks and balances, we have a Select Committee that will seek the truth. It's not about politics; it's about patriotism. And I'm so proud of the courage of the Members of the Committee. Seek the truth. The Bible tells us that the truth will set us free. And, there will be some who will never depart from the support of the lie that President Trump has told them. But, we can't go as slow as the slowest ship. We have to find our common ground. I wish the Republicans in the country would take back their party. This is a great party, the Grand Old Party.

Anderson Cooper. You want there to be a vibrant Republican Party?

Speaker Pelosi. Definitely.

Anderson Cooper. Even though you don't believe what they believe in?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, we have a difference in opinion on a spectrum of things: what is the role of government, where – local or national, whatever that is. But, you come to Congress with your ideas, representing your – it's the House of Representatives. Your job title and job description are the same: Representative. So, you know that you may have confidence in what you believe, but you have humility to recognize others are representing their districts. And, for a long time, that's how I served in Congress. Some of my best friends were on the other side of the aisle. It didn't interfere because it wasn't about, ‘Are you a patriot? Do you believe in our system of government as it is now?'

Anderson Cooper. Do – there's a lot of Americans right now who are very worried about the state of democracy, who are very worried about the future for their kids. Do you worry about where our democracy is?

Speaker Pelosi. Well I – let me say this. You know, you always have concerns. You have to be ever-vigilant. A democracy is like an horizon; you don't want it to get too far away. You're always reaching for it, to improve it and the rest.

But, the fact is, this is the United States of America. This is – this great country. It has resilience. It has strength in its institutions. It can – it survived a civil war. It can survive the previous President of the United States.

Anderson Cooper.The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board yesterday said: ‘Democracy isn't dying.' Do you agree with that?

Speaker Pelosi. No, no, it isn't dying. But, it needs attention. And, everything is an opportunity. Right now, I see us having an opportunity where – this horrible thing, a catastrophic attack on the Capitol, where democracy – they almost overturned an election.

Anderson Cooper. There were rioters running through here, trying to get to the House, just right over there, to get into the House Chamber – which they weren't able to get into.

Speaker Pelosi. Yeah, they were in my office, which is right there.

Anderson Cooper. What if they had found you? What would have happened?

Speaker Pelosi. They said they were going to shoot me in the brain, but – in the brain. But, I wasn't worried about myself. I was worried about our other Members, of whom I'm very proud. I was worried about the police, the Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police. We owe them so much. They saved our lives. We have to worry about the maintenance people, who make things happen here – how they were mistreated by those people. It caused great trauma for people.

Anderson Cooper.When you talk – that democracy isn't dying, talk about, or if you believe the nature of the threat moving forward. I mean the next election, the election after that. This last election, there were a few state election officials, Republicans, who chose not to follow the President's lead, and actually follow the Constitution and do their jobs. Had they not, it's very – it could have gone a different way.

Speaker Pelosi. Well, had they gotten these boxes – you see in the film when they're bringing the mahogany boxes in which had the certificates from the states. That's what they were trying to get, to destroy. And, then they had this plan that they thought would work – it wouldn't.

But, the fact is, is that we have legislation in the Senate now – which we hope they will send back to the House with their amendments – that we can pass to protect our democracy, the sanctity of the vote, to stop their nullification of elections. Not only do they want to suppress the vote, they want to nullify the results. And, they are appointing certain people who will make a judgement as to who really won the election, rather than the numbers speaking for themselves.

So, we have to stop that. And, you would think there would be enough people in the Republican Party to do so – and there were in this case. Some of the judges were appointed by Trump, some of the elected officials, the election officials were Trumpites, but they honored their oath of office.

Anderson Cooper. What about securing the Capitol itself? Changes that have been implemented – are they enough to ensure that what happened in this incredible building a year ago can't happen again?

Speaker Pelosi. Yes, but more needs to be done because we need more resources. The Senate cut some of the funding that we sent over from the House. So, let's take that in three parts. One is the physical structure of the building. We have resources here for the Architect of the Capitol to physically make the Capitol more sturdy, so that people cannot break in that way.

Second is the personnel. The Capitol Hill Police, the morale, the numbers, the intelligence divisions and the rest, that is all moved way down the line. More needs to be done. One of the reasons that it's not as easy as it could be is COVID, because these police have to be trained, and the training academies have to be open to do that for the number of weeks, and then they come back in and get further training. So, while they have enthusiastic people who want to sign up, they still are delayed because of COVID.

And, so when you come to the Capitol, people say, ‘When are they going to open up?' There's so – security issues. It's mostly COVID that has kept us shut down.

Anderson Cooper. There's a statue here, one of the oldest statues in this hall, and I want to show it to our viewers. It was created just a few years after the Capitol was attacked in 1814. Clio, the Muse of History, recording events as they unfold. She bore witness to the attack here. She looks down on us now. How do you think she would look at this chapter in American democracy?

Speaker Pelosi. There's tears in her eyes. I'll call this a chapter in our democracy. I'll call it an episode. Every time we have a new class of Members, I bring them here. We have dinner, this or that, and we talk about Clio, that she is recording everything that she sees. Clio is the Muse of History. In fact, the President referenced her this morning, beautifully, because we feel very possessive of Clio. And, do – seeing that had to bring tears to her eyes, because for all the visions we have had in our country, we never had a Confederate flag walking through here. We never had the kind of disrespect and defecation and all the rest of it that went with that motley crew that came through here, at the wish of the former President of the United States.

So, I think that Clio, and not only Clio, but Lincoln, whose desk was right over there, Rosa Parks who is looking at us from over here – she wanted to be seated. She told me that, in her statue, she wanted to be seated, as she was seated on the bus. And, so many other heroes. Some of these people have to go – and we have a bill to get rid of them. But, nonetheless, some of the newer people we are very proud to have in the Capitol, with more diversity, so we say, and, more, shall we say, consistency as to the United States of America.

Anderson Cooper. You remain optimistic, though, about –

Speaker Pelosi. Always. No, you have to be optimistic. But, you cannot be, as President Obama said, ‘being hopeful doesn't mean being' – shall we say, what did he say about it? Almost negligent in your optimism. You have, you have to work at it. Democracy is always a work in progress. And, this great country, with the vision of our Founders, which was remarkable in its day and continues to be a great legacy for the world – our Founders, those who have fought to defend our freedom, the example that we are to the world, there is great strength in all of that.

And, again, I can't say it enough, I have confidence in the American people. The American people have goodness about them. They love our country. There are disagreements, but by and large, I have faith in the patriotism of the American people. I have confidence in the young people who care about the planet – even larger than our country, they care about the planet. They care about personal issues that relate to their freedom and the rest, and we want to show them a path as to how they think personally, act locally for a global purpose.

Anderson Cooper. ‘Hope is not blind to optimism,' I think was the line.

Speaker Pelosi. Is that what he said?

Anderson Cooper. President Obama.

Speaker Pelosi. It was something about optimism not being –

Anderson Cooper. Speaker Pelosi, I appreciate your time tonight.

Speaker Pelosi. It was my pleasure. Thank you.