It's bad news when you're a Democrat and one of Bill Clinton's spin doctors is calling you out…
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had an embarrassing appearance on national television Sunday when confronted by ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
Stephanopoulos caught Pelosi off guard as she attempted to explain why former President Donald Trump is ineligible to hold office under Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment.
The exchange began with the ABC News anchor asking the former House speaker: “Do you believe that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection?”
“Yes,” the 83-year-old lawmaker replied. “I think that he engaged in insurrection. I think that he incited an insurrection. And again, that he would not stop what was going on. As his own people said, ‘This is your legacy. Smoke coming from the Capitol is your legacy.' Yes, I do believe that.”
Stephanopoulos proceeded with a surprisingly good follow-up question.
“Madam Speaker, if you believe he engaged in insurrection under the plain meaning of the 14th amendment, you believe he's ineligible to be president?,” he asked, in reference to decisions by Colorado and Maine to remove Trump from their 2024 presidential ballot.
That's when Pelosi butchered a key fact.
Mediate's Joe DePaolo further reports:
“Those are up to the states. They have different laws from state to state,” Pelosi incorrectly said.
While states may have different interpretations of the law, the law they are all interpreting is the same — section 3 of the 14th Amendment — which says “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Stephanopoulos immediately fact-checked Pelosi.
“It's the Constitution,” he said.
At that point, the Pelosi attempted to distinguish between her interpretation of the Constitution and certain state actions: “There is a view of the Constitution in article 14, section 3, that he should not be able to run for president, she waffled. “But that's not the point. The point now is, again, different states have different laws. We don't think in California that it it applied in our state. That's what the decision was made here.”
After the interview, Stephanopoulos expressed dismay at Pelosi's argument that state can ignore the Constitution and ban Trump from the presidential ballot.
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