Nancy Pelosi on "grotesque" Trump, the Ukraine war and the death of Alexei Navalny

I want to begin uh by asking for reaction on the death of Alexa naali the assassination of Alexa Lani is a terrible thing to happen especially a calculated assassination timed to con coincide with the Munich security conference I don't think there's any doubt that the timing was calculated that way for a day his widow now Widow Julia she was saying I don't believe it I don't know that it's really true but then today she confirmed it and source of great sadness to all of us his courage so we see everything as an opportunity hopefully this will call attention to the evil the evilness that is Putin and um shed a little more um concern on what he what he's capable of on other prisoners that are there and give us an opportunity to try to get them released but at the same time Garner even more support for the people of Ukraine what would you say to Vladimir Putin to Vladimir Putin I would say what I ask other people is he sick is he crazy and the answer I get back is no he's just a very evil person think of the children he doesn't think of the children not the children of Russia or Ukraine or any other place but I'm always worried about the children clearly he is not what do you think the United States now needs to do we think we should continue to do what we're doing to enthusiastically support the people of Ukraine admiring their courage their um just determination to save their democracy Y and in doing so they're saving everyone's including ours they so I anticipate that when we go back uh we will find a path to send the money for the for security uh to Ukraine and then I would hope that there would be a recognition that even when Ukraine wins this war which they must and we must help them do so that if Putin's still around Russia will still have to be de with and uh so we have to be prepared you're a master tactician of Congress uh you know how can house stems help force the issue of the bill being blocked and and the aid money to Ukraine currently being held up you have to understand that in the House of Representatives in a very strong bipartisan way over 300 votes would be there to and you only need 218 uh to pass the legislation so we just have four words give us a vote give us a vote but we will at the same time uh examine other parliamentary uh tactics that give us leverage in the appeal to give us a vote it's shameful this is really shameful every day that goes by that we don't have um have this assistance there people will die and as we were hearing today if you lose land you can Reet you get it back but when people die you can't get them back and yet the issue is being politicized well there are those in the Congress sad to say who have been supportive of Putin because he who shall remain nameless has been supportive of Putin Europeans here are worried they see America and they say America is stepping back you've dealt with Donald Trump what advice would you give them him have an intervention into your mental health your political viability he's a he's really grotesque and it's really a shame and I never could talk politics when I go overseas because um that's just the way we have always we've been very bipartisan when we go overseas we may have our differences and we criticize the president at home had my hesitation to do that but the he has ventured into a the global scene by his chumminess with Putin his uh practically giving a green light to the republicans in Congress to hold up uh this funding for the War uh so that we can have a victory sooner with fewer lives lost on either side so it is a it's no use talking to him because he is just in a world of his own a puppeteer who's not only being a puppeteer but shining the light on the strings of the of these puppets who are House Republicans what advice would you give to the Europeans on how to deal with him I would say to them what I've said to some of them today the plural of anecdote is not data that's an expression we use in the prorations committee just because he says things and then people say oh he could win or this or that don't agonize organize that's what we say ourselves when we have to win the election so I think uh it's um a strain on them to be worrying about something that may never happen I mean he won once so people say we could win again I don't think that that's so but in the meantime the more he speaks out the more clearly uh we understand what his motivation is and that's an opportunity too like telling Russia Vladimir Putin to attack NATO countries that don't pay their 2% GDP he's appalling and as I say he grotesque what is more appalling is That You Don't See Republicans speaking out and disassociating themselves from that ridiculous statement they know that that is untenable and wrong uh we have an obligation to title we believe in the United and um the work that we do United together in NATO and yet they're silent they're silent now I'm very pleased with the Senate vote for the package so that that was a declaration of independence on their part in the Senate uh the only thing is we don't have that yet in the house you wonder where do the Republicans go it's a great party accomplish good things for our country turned into a cult turned into a cult of personality somebody un just an unworthy person in terms of our country but we just don't as I say we don't agonize just organize just get the job done and that's what we're doing and we're so proud of President Biden he is a great president he's accomplished a great deal he has a beautiful vision for America he knows the territory he knows the legislation and the rest because he's been a legislator Senator and um um vice president so he knows what's going on he has always a plan he thinks strategically on how to get the job done and all that is in the head in the heart he's the most empathetic person you could ever know so we're history blessed us by having uh Joe Biden as president at this time and there are many people who talk about his Humanity his empathy and yet there are questions around his age and the approval rating and whether he is in a position or capable of leading the country for another four years well it's interesting how specific they are about Joe Biden and what's his name isn't that many years younger is maybe three years younger or something uh than the president and he's not uh in any way as qualified uh to be president so it's It's Curious that this press interest in picking up what people say about him were they overwhelmingly they think Trump is too old too but the attention is on the president okay so we can handle that we can handle that because of his greatness of the need for our country to save our democracy because if Trump's name's on the ballot our democracy is on the ballot our constitutions on the about our flag is on the ballot what keeps you up at night well um I've had to get a mouth guard not to grind my teeth into the ground as long as he's around um but I the way I frame it is this uh I love our national anthem my favorite line in it is proof through the night that our flag was still there and I believe that anyone who wants to be an elective office in the rest should be honoring the oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution and honor the pledge every day that we make to the flag with liberty and justice for all but we all have to fight to make sure the flag is still there that the flag and all that it stands for is there I don't have any thought that Donald Trump has any relationship to the flag still being there I think his election would mean we have taken down the flag and some of the same people who uh are in denial about Joe Biden's election fall in the same category so it's not that it keeps me up of worry it just keeps me up of planning to make sure that proof through the night that our flag was still there and if in November you find that Donald Trump is president again no he's not going to be that people say well he won before and you didn't think he was going to win before four well now we have learned how dangerous he is and how we have to inoculate against his poison uh educate as to what the differences are differences are now in terms of the polls I can tell you firsthand that last election 15 months ago and when I was speaker I said we're going to win this election they said no you're going to lose 30 or 40 seats we're down five five in New York that they were down to like two but why the polls just kept saying oh they kept saying you only 30 or 40 seats they didn't know what they were talking about my whole view of winning an election is to own the ground you mobilize to own the ground you uh message with the voters to see what they're thinking and we could tell them they cared about a woman's right to choose cared about climate change cared about gun violence prevention cared about our democracy and our C contrasting our candidates with their votes we won most of those elections so 40 or 30 we lost five and and that related more to the G toil race in New York than it did to our messaging so I I polls whatever they are photograph of the moment with a certain methodology that someone may choose but um I I don't I I don't agonize about polls I just organize about reelecting the president let's talk about the the Middle East I've you know there's a lot of discussion around proportionality and the situation that's unfolding calls for a ceasefire where do you stand on this and what do you think needs to happen today every day we pray for the release of the hostages all hostages release them uh October 7th was a terrible day a a terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israel to the point of kidnapping children raping well subsequently raping but kidnapping children kidnapping people taking hostages and invading a um entertainment for young people dance show or something uh it was a horrible thing and Israel has a right to defend itself and um prepare to make sure that that doesn't happen again I'm very sad about the um collateral damage in Gaza so many people killed so many innocent people Children and Families it is U they weren't combatants or anything but they were collateral damage and as long as um Israel strives or does better to avoid that collateral damage it will be a losing um U message for them for their reputation but I'm a very strong supporter of Israel and I I was appalled by October 7th but we do have to right now one of our fights in the Congress is to get the um col the humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza and that's a fight that we're having with with the other side of the aisle right now he humanitarian assistance uh they didn't want to give humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians even before October 7th our our fiscal year ends on September SE 30th so we wanted to get more before September 30th because we would run out they said we're not doing it we're not doing assistance to Palestinians this is only the Republican side so then October 7th came and they blamed Jo Biden and say well look at this no Joe Biden has been for a two-state solution as have I he's been for uh humanitarian assistance uh to the people in Gaza and the rest he's been there but for I don't know if it's spontaneous or we say a difference between Grassroots and AstroTurf but they should not be blaming the president for not having humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza as you say we all saw the horrors of October 7 and and what happened there and now we're seeing 28,000 Palestinians killed do you think America now needs to be tough with Israel you're a strong Ally the stest of of allies of of Israel but is it now as you say concerns around reputational damage um how the IDF is conducting this war and that it there should be a differentiation between how Hamas behaves and the standards in which the world should be holding the idea I think our Administration from what I can see has been very clear in their message to Israel in terms of uh uh respecting the lives of all of those people also uh to try to discourage them from what might come next in an attack um but they are Israel is their own country and they do what they do uh the person I admire the most there is President Herzog I'm had it with u now years ago I mean really not trying to make peace or anything all along and I saw him here I saw president Herzog here and I said how you know how's it going and he said we we just have a little more to do we we'll be we'll be there so I was encouraged because he's a decent person he's not a Netanyahu and he said it that way so I let's have confidence that this will pass soon uh again I always say everything is an opportunity and maybe it'll be an opportunity for uh Israel to see this the disfavor that many in the world had as to how how they conducted themselves after October 7th and will um strive maybe for a two-state solution I don't know it's going to be hard it's even harder now uh unless we unless Hamas is is gone but they are a terrorist organization and they are surrogates for Iran and and it's it's a very difficult situation and my heart breaks for the now I have a lot of Palestinians in my district and I've protected them from FBI going to Arabic bookstores I've protect them after 9/11 to bring them together we all wear in the streets against the Muslim B um and all those kinds of things every time I've gone to Israel I've gone to um visit abas and not only that but listen to the people in terms of young people of um Nos and the rest to hear what they have to say about what's happening there but also um what was happening in terms of the international debate relating to PLO if um the United States wanted to pressure Israel would the question around Aid military aid come into it you know putting that further pressure on the Prime Minister I think I don't think I think that uh examples of the past the um Bush Administration Father Bush uh they said they were not going to do loan guarantees as long as they Israel went forward with more settlements uh I think the Administration has spoken out about a normalizing the settlements and we'll see what what come what comes of that because right now what we're very concerned about is the West Bank too and U if they normalize legalize whatever the word is more settlements there it it will be very problematic so I think in other words in the heat of battle that they've come in they've attacked your families your this you're that and you respond okay but when we're talking about policy let's have a real discussion about it because one wonders why Israel wasn't better prepared more aware to to protect the Israeli people on October 7th was it that they had all of their resources in the West Bank I don't know I mean I think these are legitimate questions and um what would be the consequence of more settlements in the West Bank with less opportunity to ever really reach a fair two-state solution even with the tra transfer of of land

Channel: Sky News

Views: 180,965

Keywords: Sky News, Sky, Nancy Pelosi, Yalda, Hakim, Democractic Party, United States, Prisoners, Alexei Navalny, Death, Killing, Vladimir Putin, Leader, Russia, Ukraine, Oligarcs, oligarch, Joe Biden, USA, US

Id: WaiGdRYD36k

Length: 19min 55sec (1195 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 19 2024