President Trump predicted Saturday that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would be elected again as Speaker, saying she “deserves” the position.
“I can get Nancy Pelosi as many votes as she wants in order for her to be Speaker of the House. She deserves this victory, she has earned it – but there are those in her party who are trying to take it away. She will win!” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s comments come as Pelosi works to lock down the necessary support to take the Speaker’s gavel when Democrats take over control of the House in January.{mosads}
Pelosi is facing
a potential challenge from Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus who has joined other Pelosi critics in arguing that midterm voters sent a message of change for Washington that includes overhauling the party’s leadership team.
Fudge and Pelosi
met on Friday in the Capitol for a “candid” discussion, with the Ohio Democrat saying afterward that she would decide on whether to launch a challenge to Pelosi after Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, Pelosi’s supporters have launched a major lobbying campaign to clamp down on the insurgency and pave her path back to the Speaker’s office, a position she held from 2007 to 2011 as the first female Speaker in U.S. history.
More than 60 incumbent and incoming Democratic women have
rallied behind Pelosi by signing on to a letter pledging to support her in a private ballot within the Democratic caucus later this month as well as in a floor vote early next year.
Trump and Pelosi, currently the House minority leader, have worked together along with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in Trump’s first two years, including on deals to fund the government, with Trump referring to the pair as “Chuck and Nancy.”
It’s unlikely that Republicans will actually back Pelosi for Speaker, whom they portrayed as a bogeyman during the midterm elections this year, though Trump’s tone regarding the longtime Democratic leader has shifted from before the election.
The president’s comments Saturday echoed a tweet he sent earlier this month, in which he said that Pelosi “deserves” to be elected Speaker.
“If they give her a hard time, perhaps we will add some Republican votes. She has earned this great honor!” Trump tweeted on Nov. 7.
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