Following what may have been the last January 6 Committee hearing, Thursday, CNN aired previously unseen footage of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from that day before the insurrection, captured by her daughter Alexandra. The footage captures Pelosi’s reaction to former President Trump’s speech at The Ellipse, in which Trump urged his supporters to march on the Capitol, saying he’d go with them.
“Tell him if he comes here,” Pelosi said, “we’re going to the White House.”
Trump reportedly wanted to go to the Capitol along with his supporters but was stopped by the Secret Service, and Pelosi made no secret about what she would have liked to do had he shown up.
“I hope he comes. I’m gonna punch him out,” Pelosi said. “This is my moment. I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds, I’m gonna punch him out and I’m gonna go to jail, and I’m gonna be happy.”
Like all members of Congress, Pelosi soon found herself and her staff rushing to safety from the insurrectionists who had begun storming the Capitol. In the previously unaired footage, Pelosi is seen huddled with other members of Congress speaking to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, who was appointed to the position after Trump had lost the election.
Huddled with Pelosi was Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who would go on to falsely blame Pelosi for the lack of security at the Capitol that day. In reality, on January 4, Miller had stripped the commander of the D.C. National Guard, Maj. Gen. William Walker, of his ability to deploy troops in the case of an emergency. Any deployment had to come from Miller himself, who Pelosi was heard speaking to in the video, urging him to send troops.
“Just pretend for a moment it was The Pentagon or the White House or some other entity that was under siege,” Pelosi said to Miller. “You can logistically get people there as you make the plan, and you have some leadership of the National Guard there, they have not been given the authority to activate.”
Anderson Cooper 360 airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on CNN.
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