House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday defended the decision to allow the U.S. House to intervene in an Iowa election that had already been certified by the state.
“Well, it was six votes,” Pelosi told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos during an appearance on “This Week,” adding that the Democratic candidate in that race, Rita Hart, had requested congressional involvement.
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“There was a razor close election,” Stephanopoulos began. “The votes were counted, recounted, certified by the state, but there’s a process that could lead to unseating the congresswoman, and Republicans are accusing you of hypocrisy.” (RELATED: Iowa Republican Congressional Candidate Wins Her Race By 6 Votes)
Stephanopoulos went on to share a tweet from Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who said, “Speaker Pelosi says she’s open to unseating Republican Congresswoman Miller-Meeks. Translation: You’re only allowed to object to an election if you’re a Democrat.”
Speaker Pelosi says she’s open to unseating Republican Congresswoman Miller-Meeks.
Translation: You’re only allowed to object to an election if you’re a Democrat. https://t.co/TOOgIvEroL
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 12, 2021
“Why investigate an election that was certified by the state?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Well, it was six votes. It was six votes and our candidate Rita Hart, the Democratic candidate, asked for this process to begin,” Pelosi replied, arguing that the House had the authority to intervene in such cases and could potentially move to unseat Republican Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
“Six votes out of 400,000 votes cast. This is not unique. This has happened — maybe even when you were in the Capitol before when races had been close one side or the others say, let’s take it to the House. Because even Justice Scalia agreed that the House has the authority to seat members, and therefore we can count the votes,” Pelosi continued.
The speaker concluded by turning on Republicans, arguing that they had no grounds to complain. “For them to call anybody hypocritical of elections when two-thirds of them in the House voted against accepting the presidency of Joe Biden is, well, it’s just who they are,” she said.
