House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed on Sunday morning that NBC is behind efforts to ensure that, should Democrats take back the House in November, she will not be given the chance to reclaim the gavel.
“I know NBC has been on a jag as one of their priorities to undermine my prospects as speaker,” she said.
Pelosi, appearing on MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” told guest host Jonathan Capehart that she didn’t put much stock in claims that some Democratic candidates and incumbents had already gone public with statements that they would not support her in another bid for House Speaker.
Citing an NBC report that listed 51 Democrats — 42 candidates and 9 incumbents — who said they would not support Pelosi if she ran again for speaker, Capehart asked, “Well, why not if the Democrats take back the House, give up the gavel?”
Pelosi began by blaming NBC, saying, “First of all, I know NBC has been on a jag as one of their priorities to undermine my prospects as speaker.”
But Pelosi then claimed that Republicans were working hard to undermine her because they were afraid of her.
She said, “I see up close and personal what the Republicans and this president are doing. I do not think our opponents should select the leaders of our party. The Republicans are spending millions, tens of millions of dollars against me because they’re afraid of me. I out raise them in the political arena, I outsmart them at the negotiating table and because I’m a woman who is going to be at the seat of that table.”
“I’m not yielding,” Pelosi concluded, saying that she still believed that she was “the best person for the job.”
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