When asked if she had any advice for her successor, Kevin McCarthy, Pelosi while referring to Trump in her final press conference on Capitol Hill, said, “And just so you know, this may interest you. What I have said to everybody is the hardest thing that I had to do, since you're asking this question, I was Speaker and Minority Leader under President Bush, under President Obama, under what's-his-name, and just Speaker under President Biden. But three different – three different Presidents, two different roles.
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi on Thursday took a swipe at former President Donald Trump while reflecting on her legacy.
When asked if she had any advice for her successor, Kevin McCarthy, Pelosi while referring to Trump in her final press conference on Capitol Hill, said, “And just so you know, this may interest you. What I have said to everybody is the hardest thing that I had to do, since you're asking this question, I was Speaker and Minority Leader under President Bush, under President Obama, under what's-his-name, and just Speaker under President Biden. But three different – three different Presidents, two different roles.
“The hardest thing that I had to do, in all of – say, let's just talk about the three – the hardest thing that I had to do, and I said this in friendship and in love and all the rest of that, is when we had a Democratic President and we were in the Majority – Minority, and we were in the Minority, as Minority Leader, to sustain a Presidential veto.
“Because the Republicans would roll out stuff that sounded like a chocolate sundae, but it's more like doggie doo. But it looked good, and it played well in districts. And people would say, ‘Oh, this is good.’
“‘No, it ain't good. It's terrible. It undermines the Affordable Care Act. We have to sustain the Presidential veto. This is not a casual vote. This is not a casual vote.’
“So I'd rather be writing the Affordable Care Act or any other massive legislation than to have to go to my Members and say, ‘My friend, in friendship, I really need your vote to sustain the President's veto.’ That was – that was the hardest.
"Congress has the power to override a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate. As Democrats were in the minority, it was difficult for them to sustain the veto."
The 82-year-old outgoing Democratic leader from California weighed also the historic events which surround her exit, Zelensky's speech, updates on the final report from the Jan. 6 select committee, the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill and, when asked, reflected upon her own barrier-breaking time as speaker and what her future role will be as just one of 435 representatives in the House.
While relinquishing the gavel, the first and only woman elected to lead the House and, for a time, the highest-ranking woman in the U.S. government said she would maintain "strong influence" and back a new era of female leaders in support of the "integrity of the institution."
Last month in announcing that she would be stepping down from leadership, Pelosi also said she intends to serve her next term as a lawmaker representing San Francisco.
"As speaker of the House, I have awesome power. As I'm transitioning to a different, new role, I expect to have strong influence. But not on my members but just in terms of encouraging more women, for example, to run. The speaker of the House is a very big job and just wrapping it up will take time," Pelosi said.
"I'm not going to be the mother-in-law, comes in and say, 'This is the way my son likes his turkey stuffing, his scrambled eggs, or anything else,'" she added about her future relationship with incoming Democratic leadership.
Pelosi also said that while she has not had any formal conversations with GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, her presumed successor, who is currently embroiled in a quest for speaker votes, she hopes that a new speaker will be swiftly selected in early January so congressional duties quickly resume.
"We interact, and I'm just hoping that on January 3 that they'll be expeditiously able to elect a speaker so that we can get on with the work of the Congress," she said. "I think they'll have a speaker. My interest is the integrity of the institution, the strength of and respect that the institution commands."