In never-before-seen footage from January 6, 2021, obtained by CNN, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she’d punch then-President Donald Trump if he made good on his threat to come to the US Capitol with his supporters.
“Tell him, if he comes here, we’re going to the White House,” Pelosi jokes, reacting to Trump’s speech at his “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse, just south of the White House.
During that speech, Trump encouraged his followers to “fight like hell” to “take back our country” and urged them to march to the Capitol to protest the Electoral College vote certification that was underway.
Pelosi’s chief of staff then notifies her that the Secret Service had dissuaded Trump from coming to the Capitol over security concerns, but “that could change.”
“I hope he comes. I’m going to punch him out,” Pelosi fumes. “I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I’m going to punch him out. And I’m going to go to jail, and I’m going to be happy.”
The footage helps corroborate the account of former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified to the January 6 House select committee in June that Trump tried to force the Secret Service to take him to the Capitol even after they informed him they were unable to for security reasons.
Other videos played in Thursday’s hearing by the committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021, showed Pelosi and other top lawmakers working behind the scenes as the mob of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol. Lawmakers sought to get more law enforcement to protect the building and tried to arrange a way to finish the election certification from another location, such as the Army’s Fort McNair.
“We have got to finish the proceedings or else they will have a complete victory,” Pelosi says in one clip, emphasising the need to show the nation that the mob could not upend the democratic process.