Pelosi shreds Trump’s speech. Right there on the podium (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., tears her copy of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address after he delivered it to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) |
WASHINGTON (Associated Press) — And then she tore up the speech.
PUBLISHED: February 5, 2020
No sooner had President Donald Trump finished his State of the Union address than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped the paper it was printed on in two.
Right there, on camera, behind Trump’s back. As he stepped down, she ripped again. Then a third time. And a fourth. If Trump knew about the American carnage going on behind him, he didn’t react as he left. But Pelosi was on her turf, with a deep understanding of her audience — and she wasn’t finished. In case any confusion remained, Pelosi held up what remained of the address to her family in the gallery, in full view of reporters.
“It was a manifesto of mistruths,” Pelosi told reporters as she left the Capitol. The ripping was not planned, according to a person close to the Democratic speaker who was unauthorized to speak publicly.
Even as Republican criticism piled up on Wednesday, Pelosi dug in on the speech-shredding.
“I felt very liberated last night,” Pelosi told House Democrats in their private caucus meeting, according to a Democrat aide in the room, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the remarks.
Republicans dismissed her display, on the eve of Trump’s acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial, as a tantrum.
All the following PHOTOS are copyrighted by AP
—— AUTO – GENERATED; Published (Halifax Canada Time AST) on: February 07, 2020 at 04:53PM