Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she blames the Republicans' "politics of personal destruction" for the attack on husband Paul Pelosi in 2022.
Pelosi sat down with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday to talk about the 2024 presidential election, as well as her new book, "The Art of Power."
At one point, Mitchell asked Pelosi about the attack on her husband by a home intruder two years ago. Paul Pelosi was assaulted at their San Francisco home by a man wielding a hammer who repeatedly asked where the then-House speaker was. The man, David DePape, was sentenced in May to 30 years in prison for the attack.
"Do you blame the people who targeted you and demonized you, [former President Donald] Trump and his followers?" Mitchell asked Pelosi.
"I think they share some responsibility for that," Pelosi said.
She then accused Republicans of having a long-running history of engaging in the "politics of personal destruction."
"The Republican Party with cloven feet, head horns … Really, actually, they started under Clinton, Hillary [Clinton] and Bill Clinton, the politics of personal destruction and then they transferred it to me," Pelosi said.
She claimed that she was targeted because she was "effective" and "getting bills passed," so the GOP had to "take [her] down."
The California congresswoman did not give any further indication as to what she was referring to with the Clintons, but the former president was infamously impeached after lying under oath about an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.
Pelosi also slammed Republicans who have made "a joke" about the attack on her husband and said GOP members fanned the "flame" that incited the attack.
"When they were doing it, they went into a different territory of political debate and it fed a flame, it fueled a flame," she said.
Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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