Trump says it was Pelosi who started the verbal slap-fight
President Donald Trump on Friday defended his personal attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, telling reporters that he “just responded in kind” to the Democratic leader after she leveled “horrible” and “terrible” insults against him.
“Did you hear what she said about me, long before I went after her? Did you hear?” Trump said outside the White House, as he departed for a state visit to Japan.
“She made horrible statements," he continued. "She knows they're not true. She said terrible things. So I just responded in kind.”
Trump on Wednesday walked out of a White House meeting with senior congressional Democrats after Pelosi earlier in the day accused him of being “engaged in a cover-up.”
The sniping escalated Thursday, when Pelosi said that she wished Trump’s family and aides would “have an intervention” for the president and questioned whether Trump was “in charge” of his administration.
Irked by her remarks, Trump derailed a White House event with American farmers and ranchers later Thursday and accused Pelosi of having “lost it,” calling the speaker “a mess” and “not the same person.”
The president reprised those attacks on Pelosi’s mental well-being Friday.
“Look, you think Nancy is the same as she was? She's not. Maybe we can all say that,” Trump said, adding: “I think Nancy Pelosi is not helping this country.”
Trump also claimed he was unfamiliar with doctored videos of Pelosi slurring her words, which began disseminating across social media Wednesday and which his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, reposted Thursday evening.
Trump himself joined in on the ridicule Thursday evening, tweeting a tightly edited clip of the speaker's halting speech pattern during a news conference in the Capitol.
“I don’t know about the videos,” the president said Friday.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine