Leading Pelosi critic Moulton once penned effusive praise for her: report

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who has emerged as one of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) most fervent critics, once penned a letter to the California Democrat thanking her for her help in cultivating his career on Capitol Hill.

The September 2016 letter, which was obtained by the Boston Globe, showers effusive praise on the top Democrat for helping him navigate his first term in Congress.

“The bottom line is that I’m proud to be in public service, but I wouldn’t be able to do the job as well without your help,” Moulton wrote.

But Moulton, who campaigned as a political outsider opposed to the conventions of Washington, has grown increasingly critical of Pelosi in recent weeks amid Democratic electoral losses in special elections.

{mosads}After Democrat Jon Ossoff’s loss in the special House race for Georgia’s 6th District last week, Moulton has led calls for Pelosi to step down from her leadership position. 

He has argued that the Democratic Party needs to do away with its established leaders and reinvent itself in order to recoup from devastating election losses that began last year with Hillary Clinton’s loss to now-President Trump.

Moulton defended his letter to Pelosi, telling the Boston Globe that nowhere in his 2016 letter does he praise her leadership abilities or her role within the Democratic Party.

“Never once do I thank her for her leadership,” Moulton said. “If Pelosi was looking for praise of her leadership in that letter, it wasn’t there.”