House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is not concerned about undermining the message of unity by moving forward with a Senate impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump.
During her press briefing on Thursday, a reporter asked Pelosi if she is worried impeachment could diminish the message of unity and alienate Republicans.
“No, I’m not worried about that. The fact is the president of the United States committed an act of incitement of insurrection. I don’t think it’s very unifying to say, ‘Oh, let’s just forget it and move on,'” Pelosi said.
She added, “That’s not how you unify. Joe Biden said it beautifully, ‘If we’re going to unite, you must remember,’ and we must, we must bring this. And look, that’s our responsibility, to uphold the integrity of the Congress of the United States.”
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“I don’t think its very unifying to say ‘Oh, lets just forget it and move on’.”@SpeakerPelosi said she’s not worried about alienating Republicans by impeaching former President Trump for the January 6th #CapitolRiots pic.twitter.com/PtYuLi2zO2
— Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) January 21, 2021
Pelosi explained Trump is not necessarily off the hook just because he left office.
“Just because he’s now gone — thank God — you don’t say to a president, ‘Do whatever you want in the last months of your administration. You’re going to get a get out of jail card free,’ because people think we should make nice, nice,” she continued.
Pelosi told MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Tuesday that Trump “was a stain on our country,” as IJR reported.
She added, “He, in every respect, was unworthy to be president. Did not respect the office that held, and certainly, did not respect the office the rest of us hold as well.”
On Jan. 13, the House voted to impeach Trump for a second time, as IJR reported.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if President Joe Biden should be convicted in the Senate.
“He’s going to leave it to the Senate to Democrats and Republicans to determine what the path forward should be,” she said during her appearance on NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday.