Reuters
- The Speaker of the House and the President have not spoken since October 16, 2019, when a discussion about pulling US troops out of Syria ended with the two trading insults and Pelosi walking out with her fellow Democrats.
- Shortly after the meeting, Trump tweeted a photo of Pelosi standing up and pointing her finger at him with the caption “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!” while Pelosi later told reporters that “we have to pray for his health.”
- The two had not even been in the same room together until the traditionally nonpartisan National Prayer Breakfast on February 6, 2020, where they sat five seats apart from one another.
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Nancy Pelosi has defended not speaking to Donald Trump for an entire year in an interview with MSNBC.
When asked by MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace if she would be open to Trump reaching out to her, Pelosi said: “It would depend on what the purpose is.”
The Speaker of the House and the President have not spoken since October 16, 2019, when a discussion about pulling US troops out of Syria ultimately turned to the two trading insults and Pelosi walking out with her fellow Democrats.
Shortly after the meeting, Trump tweeted a photo of Pelosi standing up and pointing her finger at him with the caption “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!”
Pelosi later told reporters that “we have to pray for his health.”
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2019
The Speaker told Wallace that she had been telling Trump that "all roads with you lead to Putin" when the photograph was taken.
She added: "What was funny about it is the White House put out that photo because we're not even allowed to wear a smartwatch in the room. They put that out and I said thank you very much, Mr. President."
"But we left because there was no purpose to staying there. There was no truth coming from the other side."
The two had not even been in the same room together until the traditionally nonpartisan National Prayer Breakfast on February 6, 2020, where they sat five seats apart from one another, according to The Hill.
Here, the president said that he didn't like people "who say I pray for you when they know that's not so."
That was merely two days after Trump's State of the Union address where he seemed to ignore Pelosi's attempt at a handshake and she responded by ripping up a copy of his speech afterward, The Hill added.
In September 2020, the president was asked if he should "take the high road" and meet with Democratic leaders in response to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
He responded: "I am taking the high road, I'm taking the high road by not seeing them. That's the high road. Yeah. And if I thought it made a difference or would make a difference, I'd do it in a minute."
In the interview, the Speaker added that she was still working with other White House representatives including Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin.
She said: "So it isn't as if it has to be person to person between the Speaker and the president. It has to be knowledge for knowledge in terms of what our purpose is, what we know about the challenge we face and what the possible solutions are."