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- Nancy Pelosi reflected on the January 6 Capitol insurrection in a new USA Today interview Tuesday.
- The Speaker of the House said she was never “personally afraid” because she had so much security.
- But many Members of Congress and staffers are still processing the trauma, she told the outlet.
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Nancy Pelosi says she wasn’t “personally afraid” of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6. But that doesn’t mean she plans on forgiving the rioters anytime soon.
In a new interview with USA Today that coincides with the Speaker of the House’s 100th day in session, Pelosi discussed the chaos of the Capitol insurrection, as well as the long-lasting impacts on those present.
Pelosi was evacuated from the Capitol campus to a secure off-site location on January 6 as a mob of Trump supporters breached the Capitol following a “Stop the Seal” rally. During former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, House impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett said Pelosi was evacuated quickly because some of the rioters had publicly stated their desire to hurt or kill her.
“That’s what they were setting out to do,” she told USA Today.
But if she hadn’t been safely evacuated in time? Pelosi said she wouldn’t have gone easily.
“Well, I’m pretty tough. I’m a street fighter. They would have had a battle on their hands,” she told the outlet.
She then reportedly suggested she could have used her four-inch-high stilettos as a weapon.
Though she joked about her own experience, USA Today journalists Susan Page and Ledyard King said the speaker’s voice became lower and “more intense” when she discussed the insurrection.
Pelosi told the outlet that her significant security presence made her feel safe during the riot, but she did worry for everybody else present.
“I’ll never forgive them the trauma that they caused to the staff and the members,” she said, noting that many are still trying to process the ordeal.
“I do think it will have an impact on how people decide to come to work here or stay to work here and the rest,” Pelosi said.
She told USA Today that she will soon introduce legislation meant to tighten the Capitol’s security and also suggested the possibility of establishing a select committee to investigate the Capitol attack if the 9/11-style commission continues to stall.
“The one thing among our members that is consistent is – we must find the truth,” she told the outlet.
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