Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was seen clutching the arm of a member of her staff, gingerly walking the steps of the Capitol yesterday.
The concerning moment came just moments after Pelosi was caught on camera lashing out at a reporter who asked why the former House speaker “refused the National Guard” on Jan. 6, 2021.
While needing assistance to walk, Pelosi quickly spun around, pointed her finger at a LindellTV reporter’s face and appeared enraged at the suggestion that a new Republican-led committee investigating the riot might find her “liable.”
“Shut up!” Pelosi shouted.
“I did not refuse the National Guard. The president didn’t send it. Why are you coming here with Republican talking points as if you are a serious journalist?” she fumed.
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Pelosi or her staff did not address why she needed help walking.
However, Pelosi previously appeared on the House floor late last year during the joint session to certify the 2024 presidential election results using a walker following her December hip replacement surgery.
The longtime California Democrat was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery after a fall during a congressional trip to Luxembourg on December 13.
Pelosi’s outburst over yesterday’s line of questioning appears to be related to a report on the January 6 riot, authored by House Republicans in 2022, found that Democratic leadership had concerns over the “optics” of having National Guard troops present at the Capitol in the aftermath of the summer 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
Last year, the Republican-led House Committee on Administration released footage of Pelosi repeatedly admitting that she should have done more to protect the US Capitol from the January 6 rioters.
The footage was shot on the day of the riot by Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, for an HBO documentary.
“We have totally failed. We have to take some responsibility for not holding the security accountable for what could have happened,” Pelosi said at one point.
“Oh my God, I cannot believe the stupidity of this. And I take the full responsibility,” Pelosi added.
At another point in the revealing footage, Pelosi lashes out a top aide for asking her amid the chaos if they should call in the National Guard.
“You’re gonna ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, ‘Should we call the Capitol Police?’? I mean the National Guard. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?” Pelosi said.
When the aide explained that the National Guard believed they had “sufficient resources,” the then-House speaker shot back: “It’s not a question of how they had … they don’t know! They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more.”