Pelosi denies breaking promise to back McCarthy in speakership vote

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Friday denied that she had promised to support her fellow Californian Rep. Kevin McCarthy as he was ousted as speaker.

"Kevin McCarthy says that you essentially broke a promise to him to keep Democrats with him if there was a vote against him. Is that not true?" FOX 11 Los Angeles anchor Elex Michaelson asked Pelosi in a recent interview. 

Shaking her head, Pelosi said she had never promised to help McCarthy, R-Calif., remain as speaker.

"Not really. I had no promise to him," Pelosi told FOX 11. "Our Democratic members made that decision." 

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McCarthy lost the speaker's gavel this week after a handful of hardliners in the Republican conference led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., forced a vote to vacate the chair. Eight Republicans and every Democrat voted together to remove McCarthy as House speaker. 

At a press conference after the vote, McCarthy blamed Democrats for his ouster, arguing they should have voted against the motion to vacate the chair for institutional reasons.

McCarthy claimed to have had a discussion with Pelosi in the days leading up to the vote and told reporters she had promised to support him.

But Pelosi said Democrats had numerous reasons to vote to oust McCarthy, citing the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into President Biden and McCarthy's support for former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

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"If you don’t respect the institution then don’t expect us to bail you out," she said.

McCarthy has since said he will not run for speaker again. On Friday, he denied reports that he will resign from Congress, saying, "I'm not resigning. I got a lot more work to do." 

McCarthy was succeeded by Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a temporary replacement until the House votes on a permanent one next week. Among his first acts as speaker pro-tempore, McHenry evicted Pelosi from her private Capitol office in what was claimed to be an act of retaliation after McCarthy was ousted.

However, several GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital that the evictions were not rooted in vengeance, but rather because the office is reserved for the immediately preceding speaker.

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"This was a decision by Speaker Pelosi in getting removed because that is the office for the former speaker," Louisiana GOP Rep. Garret Graves told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

"She's no longer the immediately preceding speaker so that was a decision she made by evicting Kevin McCarthy," Graves continued. "That was her own decision."

House Freedom Caucus chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., said the evictions were not done in revenge but that it seems to him "unfortunately that we have an unexpected recent vacancy in this with the speaker's office and that speaker that's been recently the speaker now has to have a place per the rules."

"So that [place] needs to be reoccupied or occupied by somebody different," Perry said. "That's just the that's just the flow of business here."

Fox News' Houston Keene contributed to this report.

Speaker McCarthy met with Hakeem Jeffries and vowed to play nice after Pelosi called him a ‘moron’

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was so offended by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling him a "moron" that he met with her successor, Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., to make a mutual vow that they would play nice.

Pelosi was dismissive of McCarthy's leadership during his time at the head of the Republican minority, but his relationship with Jeffries has been notably more respectful. The pair are up front with their disagreements, but have not yet resorted to name-calling.

"We’ll continue to agree to disagree without being disagreeable with each other and find common ground when possible, therefore continuing to work together," Jeffries told Punchbowl News on Wednesday. "It remains a positive, forward-looking, communicative relationship."

"I have a great deal of respect for him," McCarthy said of his counterpart. "We’re going to disagree on different issues. I believe based on the information that we have now, the Congress just needs to get more answers. That’s what we’re going about doing," he added, referring to a presidential impeachment inquiry.

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"I have worked hard to make sure we have respect for one another. Even when we have, like any relationship, a difference of opinion, I’m going to explain my position to him. He has been very honest and direct with me when he has disagreed, which has been many times. I respect his position. I know what happens today, tomorrow it can be something else," he told Punchbowl.

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Pelosi, who has just announced plans for re-election, hasn't let off the gas on McCarthy, however. She described McCarthy as having an "incredibly shrinking speakership" during an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Sunday.

Pelosi first got on McCarthy's bad side in 2021, in an incident that came when McCarthy slammed a House mask mandate as not following the science.

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"Make no mistake – The threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state," McCarthy said at the time.

Asked to react to McCarthy's comment at a filmed public event, Pelosi responded: "He's such a moron."

McCarthy and Jeffries' respectful relationship is likely to be tested in the coming months as Republicans get underway with their impeachment inquiry against President Biden. Jeffries has already called the effort "illegitimate."

Fox News' Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Nancy Pelosi, 83, will run for her seat in Congress again in 2024

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will seek a 20th term in the U.S. House of Representatives, announcing Friday she is running for re-election in 2024. 

Pelosi, 83, declared her candidacy for California's 11th Congressional District representing San Francisco in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 

"Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery. Our country needs America to show the world that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for ALL," Pelosi said. "That is why I am running for reelection — and respectfully ask for your vote."

Pelosi stepped down from serving as leader of the House Democratic Caucus last year, passing the torch to current House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. She now serves among the rank-and-file, though Democratic lawmakers have dubbed her as "Speaker Emerita" out of respect for her more than 35-year tenure in the House.

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First elected to Congress in 1987, the Democratic leader made history becoming the first female speaker in 2007, and in 2019 she regained the speaker's gavel.

Pelosi led the party through substantial legislative achievements, including passage of the Affordable Care Act, as well as turbulent times with two impeachments of former President Donald Trump.

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Her announcement puts to rest any suggestion of retirement, though it comes amid concerns over the advanced age of numerous elected officials, including octogenarian Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; 90-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and President Biden, who is 80.

McConnell, 81, renewed concerns about his age and fitness for office after he froze in front of news cameras last month for the second time this year. 

McConnell’s physician medically cleared him to continue with business as usual and did not find any evidence of a stroke or a seizure after several tests, per an announcement Tuesday. 

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Even so, the episode prompted critics like Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley to deride the Senate as a "privileged nursing home." At least one House member, Rep. John James, R-Mich., introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution to impose an age limit on holding federal office. James' proposal is to bar anyone who would be 75 or older from running for president, vice-president or either house of Congress. 

Biden has not escaped scrutiny over his age, either. A recent Wall Street Journal poll found two-thirds of Democrats think he is too old to run for president again. Pelosi has come to the president's defense, however, calling age "relative." 

"I think the president should embrace his age, his experience, the knowledge he brings to the job. Actually, the leader on the other side is not much younger. I don’t like to use his name, but you know who I mean. He’s not that much younger. So I don’t think — age is a relative thing. It is — and I think this president, our country is very well served by his leadership, again, his experience, his knowledge, and it counts for a lot," she said. 

Pelosi added that Biden is "a kid to me." 

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind and Hanna Panreck and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pelosi refuses to weigh in on possible Trump indictment or even say his name

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Monday night refused to engage in a discussion about the potential looming indictment against former President Donald Trump in New York City.

The Democrat, who stepped down from House leadership this year, was asked during a Wall Street Journal speaking event about whether Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump, involving alleged hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, was the "right vehicle for challenging" him – or whether it will boost his chances of winning the 2024 Republican nomination.

"I think that’s a matter for the courts," Pelosi answered. "The grand jury will vote and decide on the basis of evidence they have, as to whether there should be any follow-up to that information."

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"It’s not for any of us to say whether he should be indicted or not, it’s the basis of the law, and the facts, and that’s up to the court. So that’s all I’ll say about him," she said.

Pelosi ended the answer with a jab at Trump, her former political nemesis that she refused to name: "I don’t like talking about him."

That response was relatively reserved for the lawmaker who spearheaded two different impeachment inquiries into the former GOP commander in chief when she was House speaker.

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Trump had said on his Truth Social app last week that he expected to be indicted in Bragg’s probe on Tuesday. No indictment was announced, but reports suggest a decision on possible charges could come as early as Wednesday afternoon. Fox News Digital reported on Monday that he had not yet been informed of a coming indictment at the time.

Pelosi is not the only Trump critic who’s been reserved in their responses to the explosive rumors.

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Two GOP senators who have been known to break from Trump on multiple occasions hesitated to weigh in on the matter when asked by Fox News Digital on Monday evening.

"I’m really not going to comment on this until we know what happens," said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital when asked if an indictment should disqualify Trump from seeking the nomination, "That’ll be up to the people that vote in each state because that’s where it’ll be determined, but for right now, there has been no indictment at this stage of the game."

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