House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) described the events of the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, saying it “breaks your heart.”
NBC’s Lester Holt asked Pelosi Thursday night if she thinks about what would have happened if she had not left the House floor that day.
She responded, “Well, the security was very definite, and when they pulled me down from the podium, I said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ They said, ‘No, you must go.'”
Pelosi added, “We don’t even have a conversation. You want to do your job. They have to do their job. The visuals of what was happening outside the Capitol and now inside the Capitol…It breaks your heart. It breaks your heart. It’s as if somebody in the White House dropped a bomb on the Congress of the United States.”
Watch her comments below:
One year after the Capitol riot, @SpeakerPelosi talks with @LesterHoltNBC about the events of that day.
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) January 7, 2022
“It’s as if somebody in the White House dropped a bomb on the Congress of the United States,” she says. pic.twitter.com/SaSv1YPu1a
Holt also mentioned President Joe Biden’s speech, asking Pelosi, “Do you wish that speech had come sooner than today?”
The House speaker replied, “Well, it came today and is what our country needed right now. And I’m very proud of the president’s speech. It was forceful, truthful, and a wake-up call to some in our country of how close we came to catastrophe for our democracy that day in a way that was unprecedented.”
Biden blasted former President Donald Trump over his false election claims during his speech, as IJR reported.
“He built this lie over months. It wasn’t based in facts. He was just looking for an excuse, a pretense, to cover for the truth. He’s not just a former president. He’s a defeated former president,” Biden said.
Pelosi marked the anniversary with a moment of silence on the House floor, honoring those who fought to protect the Capitol.
“As we reflect on that darkest day, we remember that the insurrection sought not only to attack the building but to undermine democracy itself,” Pelosi said. “But the assault did not deter us from our duty.”
She argued because of police officers, “Congress was able to defeat the insurrection and return to the Capitol that same night to ensure the peaceful transfer took place.”
Pelosi added, “Because of them and our members, the insurrection failed.”