Transcript of Pelosi Interview on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports to discuss the House-passed Heroes Act, the latest on the negotiations on the COVID-19 response package and other news of the day. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Andrea Mitchell. Speaker Nancy Pelosi joining me now. Madam Speaker, thank you for joining us. Always a pleasure.

Speaker Pelosi. Always a pleasure, Andrea.

Andrea Mitchell. And this is a big day. Well, first of all, the breaking news. Wisconsin, battleground state, the convention, an enormous opportunity for Democrats, virtually, if not in person and now Joe Biden is not going to Milwaukee. How much does this damage the campaign?

Speaker Pelosi. Oh, I think that I'm – we're all learning this at the same time now that he won't be there. But I think it's an indication of the seriousness with which he judges the situation. This, the pandemic, is dangerous and the increase in numbers just demands that we keep our distances. I commend him for doing that.

It's going to be a great convention. People will see it virtually. And we're very proud of him. I don't – I think it's a great thing that he's doing this early enough, so the rest of us now are told that we're not coming either, I guess, and we can all make our plans from around the country for a great American victory for Joe Biden, as he is nominated for president.

Andrea Mitchell. I also want to ask you about our reporting that the Republicans are also planning not to have the President leave Washington for his acceptance speech. But, most interestingly, he has floated the idea, today, of doing it on the south lawn of the White House. Our reporting is also that he has suggested monuments as a backdrop, like the Lincoln Memorial.

Is that appropriate? I'm not sure if there's a law against it, but there certainly is a tradition. You don't use the White House as the backdrop for any politics. He has broken that with the Rose Garden and other events before. But the acceptance for the Republican nomination coming with the White House as the backdrop, does that strike you as wrong?

Speaker Pelosi. Yeah, it's very wrong. Again, when we're in the Capitol of the United States under the dome, we have a very limited opportunity to reference anything political.

And for the President of the United States to degrade, once again, the White House, as he has done over and over again, by saying he's going to completely politicize it is something that should be rejected right out of hand.

It's, again, notion-mongering, not serious thinking. And that's – well, it won't happen. Let's put it that way. Whether it's legally wrong or ethically out of the question, it shouldn't even have been something that was expressed.

Andrea Mitchell. Can you stop him?

Speaker Pelosi. He can't do that. You can't do that. I mean, you would be very surprised, I think, at the fact that, when you're at the White House, you're talking about policy and the rest, you're not talking politics.

We never did – you would have a limited reference as it applied to our civic life in terms of politics, but you don't talk politics in the White House. And you don't talk politics under the dome of the Capitol, except perhaps a reference to it, but not an event. You don't have political events in the Capitol. You don't have political events in the White House.

Andrea Mitchell. Well, I know that you and other Members, Senators, you leave the building to do any fund-raising. You have your own offices off-site.

Speaker Pelosi. Of course.

Andrea Mitchell. But, that said, if he's exempt from the Hatch Act, which is why some of his aides have been criticized –

Speaker Pelosi. He can't do it. He can't do it.

Andrea Mitchell. Cited for unethical activity, he – you don't think you can get away with it?

Speaker Pelosi. Andrea, my friend, once again, he is diverting attention from the fact that people are dying in our country, children are hungry, families are fearing eviction, workers are concerned about getting money into their pockets, the state and local governments are suffering from the virus and the rest.

And we're talking about whether he can have a political event at the White House. He can't.

But, again, it's interesting, it's curious, it's a diversion, and that he is – what is he? He's a master of diversion.

But what we all really need to be talking about is the fact that we passed our bill, the Heroes Act, nearly three months ago. In that time, over 300, excuse me, over three million people have been added to the list of those infected; 70,000 people have died. And we're talking about the President having political events at the White House. He can't.

So, let's talk about what we can do. Let's see how we can work together to get that done.

Andrea Mitchell. Well, let me ask – let me ask you about that.

Speaker Pelosi. Okay.

Andrea Mitchell. Let me ask you about that, because I want to ask you about the state of play of these talks.

Speaker Pelosi. Yes.

Andrea Mitchell. Clearly, Mitch McConnell, the latest that we're hearing is that he's willing to bring something to the Floor, indicating that he doesn't have his Caucus. Can you reach enough – can you reach an agreement this week, even, on unemployment, on the key factors, on eviction moratorium? What can you do, and how do you believe the talks are progressing?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, I do believe that we have to reach an agreement. What the timetable is really relates to the progress we make.

How big are – how big will the bill be, for how long – and how long will it last, those are the questions. But we have some very – specifics, because, as you know, in legislation, the devil is in the details. We think the angels should be there as well. And that's what our, we're making – having an understanding of what it actually means when you say this.

But it is – it is – we still have – are a distance apart in terms of state and local, which we think is essential, that we honor our heroes, that's why it's called that, by supporting the work that state and local government does to fight this virus and supply – provide services to people in the meantime. If we don't do that, we will be leaving, abandoning them with their – the costs that they have incurred for fighting the virus. And, secondly, they will be firing many people, and that goes on the unemployment – into the unemployment ranks, which doesn't save money.

Basically, just to enlarge the issue, if we don't do something significant, we will not only be delinquent in our duties to fight this virus, which is the way to open our economy and open our schools safely for our children and grandchildren, but we will also be increasing the damage to our economy.

And that's what people – the economists, the Chairman of the Fed, everybody recognizes that. This is big. It's a pandemic, which has caused an economic downturn. We have to address the pandemic to reverse that. And we have to do it in a significant way. And that's the discussion that we're having.

I'm confident that we will have an agreement. The timing of it, I can't – I can't say, because I don't know.

Andrea Mitchell. Let me ask you –

Speaker Pelosi. That just depends.

Andrea Mitchell. Understood.

Do you have any confidence that the President would sign on to whatever Meadows and Mnuchin agree on, presuming that Meadows and Mnuchin can agree amongst themselves, because the Republicans have disagreed?

Is the President going to agree to whatever you have negotiated?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, I do trust that the – Mr. Secretary Mnuchin and Mr. Meadows represent the President. He trusts them. And we trust that he – that he's aware of our conversations.

What's really curious about this, because this is different from any negotiation we have had before, because we're in the middle of a pandemic. People are dying. So, there's an urgency that is different from before. And it – the pandemic has caused economic suffering of such a magnitude that cannot be reversed until we address the pandemic. So, we're in a bit of a different kind of a dynamic.

Secondly, we have a bill. We passed it nearly three months ago. They haven't passed anything. And, as you have seen from the Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, they don't have the votes. They have votes for practically nothing. They haven't passed anything.

They don't even have the votes within their own 51. In other words, I'm not talking about 60 votes. I'm saying, what is it that they, from strength, can bring to the Floor?

Last week, they brought something that was $200. Well, it was a nonstarter. But, even with that, it didn't have the full support of the Republicans in the United States Senate.

So, it's unlike other negotiations in terms of, it's a matter of life and death, the lives of the American people, the livelihood of our families economically and the life of our democracy.

But it's also a situation where they refuse to spend more money, by and large, in the Republican Caucus. And, again, that's a formula for further disaster.

Andrea Mitchell. Can he do this by Executive Order?

Speaker Pelosi. No. No. He can't do it by Executive Order.

Andrea Mitchell. OK.

Speaker Pelosi. Do what? Do what by Executive Order?

[Laughter]

Speaker Pelosi. No. No.

Andrea Mitchell. Extend unemployment, cut the payroll tax. I don't know. We're not in a normal world, Madam Speaker.

Speaker Pelosi. He can't. Well, he may be able to do –

Andrea Mitchell. Well, let me, let me –

Speaker Pelosi. He may be able to extend the moratorium on evictions.

But, unless you have some money with that, it's a – it's helpful, but it's not the whole thing. And, again, he can't do the money without the Congress of the United States. The power of the purse begins in the House. Appropriations bill shall begin in the House of Representatives. So, here we are.

Andrea Mitchell. You're going to meet later today with the Postmaster General –

Speaker Pelosi. Yes.

Andrea Mitchell. Who has reportedly been slashing the budget of the Post Office –

Speaker Pelosi. That's right.

Andrea Mitchell. And the suspicion is crippling the Post Office in advance of trying to make it impossible to have mail-in balloting and hurt, largely, Democrats, as well as Republicans, who have voted mail-in balloting, fifteen states, years of experience.

And the President now says that only Florida, a Republican-led state where he votes by mail-in –

Speaker Pelosi. Yes.

Andrea Mitchell. Is the one that does it right. So, with all of that, what do you want to know from this Postmaster General, who was a major donor to – and has no other credential that we know of, than that he's a major donor, and is firing people?

Speaker Pelosi. I think he was, like, a major sponsor of the President's inaugural festivities.

But, in any event, yes, we will see him today. And, as always, we are hopeful that we can find common ground. The fact that we're in the middle of a pandemic, where many people are depending on getting their medicines by mail – they always do, but more so now, many of them veterans, get a high percentage of their medications through the mail. The correspondence, everything is intensified because of the pandemic. And he comes in and starts making these cuts.

What we had in our bill, the $25 billion in the Heroes Act, was what was recommended by the Board of Governors of the Postal Service, one hundred percent appointed by Donald Trump, bipartisan, one hundred percent appointed by Donald Trump. And they recommended the $25 billion.

So, we have concerns about what it means for the pandemic, but we also have concerns what it means for the life of our democracy. And many people will want to vote by mail, so they don't have to risk their health or lives in order to have their vote.

So, we have serious concerns, and we will have a wonderful opportunity today to share them with the Postmaster General.

And, by the way, this is bipartisan. All over the country, the Post Office is so popular. This is what we used to call in my day, motherhood, apple pie, the Postal Service. Rain, sleet, dark of night, rain, whatever –

Andrea Mitchell. Yes.

Speaker Pelosi. Deter them from their appointed rounds, that's the way it is. That's what the American people count on them for.

And for them – this has never been really political, actually, until the Trump Administration. And now, all of a sudden, they're politicizing the Postal Service, because maybe they want to privatize it. They always want to see a profit motive.

But the fact is that, again, nothing in government is as popular as the Postal Service. Over 90 percent, Democrats, Republicans, we call them ‘decline-to-states' in California, people who don't declare a party, all agree that they – that's really important to their lives, the Postal Service.

So, we will see what happens today.

Andrea Mitchell. And they're all frontline workers who have been working through the pandemic, which we should remember as well.

Briefly, on the vice presidential announcement that we expect soon from Joe Biden, two Members of your Caucus are in the group that are being considered –

Speaker Pelosi. Yes.

Andrea Mitchell. And some of your other friends and colleagues. What are the most important qualities that you think Joe Biden needs? Jim Clyburn said passion, to fill the gap. He has compassion, but not passion, not electricity. What do you think is the most important quality?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, what – the most important is what – that Joe Biden trusts, has trust in the person, that they have shared values, and that he knows, first – first of all, the three things I would say, if I were asked – and you're asking me – is that I don't think that who the vice president is makes that much difference in the election.

It's about Joe Biden versus Donald Trump. And that's what the election is about. Since Lyndon Johnson, I don't think any vice president has ever made a positive difference, except from a negative standpoint, perhaps, Sarah Palin, but, in terms of significance, Lyndon Johnson.

Otherwise, it's nice – nice to see who can do no harm in the campaign, that the president will trust and that could be a good president, should that need arise. God willing, it wouldn't.

But I think he has a remarkable field to choose from. Any one of them would be great. We're ready to embrace whoever it is. I'm very happy that two House Members are being considered. And, actually, Tammy Duckworth came from the House. Then, we have Senators, and we have just an array, a beautiful diversity of strong women. And we are all eager to find out.

And when they – when the – now, important, this is one decision of any that you would know, one decision that is strictly, your power as vice president is derived from the President of the United States.

For example, when I go to a meeting at the White House, as the Speaker, or Leader in those days, it was about the power derived from my Caucus sending me there. But this is about one person choosing someone to be vice president.

So, again, the confidence, the trust that that person has – and, you know, of course, they all have shared values that are wonderful. But, in terms of how – nobody knows about the vice presidency better than Joe Biden, because he served for two terms as a trusted ally of Barack Obama. And I know that he will want someone like that to be serving with him.

Andrea Mitchell. Madam Speaker, we are so grateful for your time. Thank you very much.

Speaker Pelosi. My pleasure. Thank you, Andrea. Thank you.

Andrea Mitchell. Thank you.

Speaker Pelosi. Okay.