Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is blasting Republicans as “right wing ideological handmaidens to special interests,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as the “grim reaper,” Attorney General Bill Barr for committing a crime by lying to Congress, and President Trump for obstructing justice.
In a wide-ranging news conference late Thursday morning the Speaker told reporters it’s “important to connect the dots,” as she offered examples of how the GOP is harming Americans. Her over-arching point was that all these events are connected.
“If you’re a young person and you care about the climate crisis, we’re passing that bill right now on the floor,” she said, lamenting that it will be “dead on arrival in the Senate.”
“If you’re a young person and you care about net neutrality, freedom on the internet, the grim reaper is going to kill it in the Senate,” she continued, referring to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Pelosi also mentioned House bills sent to the Senate, including the Violence Against Women Act, equal pay for equal work, and reducing the role of money in politics, blasting “the grim reaper Mitch McConnell,” who “will kill” them.
“This is about policy,” she said. The Speaker then called Republicans “handmaidens to the NRA” for killing gun safety legislation.
The Speaker summed it up by reminding Americans that it’s all about policy.
“What is deadly serious about it is the Attorney General of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That’s a crime.”
MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt asked if the Attorney General committed “a crime,” Speaker Pelosi said point-blank that he “lied to Congress,” and if anybody else did that “it would be considered a crime.”
The Speaker also blasted President Trump’s “blanket statements that he’s not going to honor any subpoenas is obstruction of justice.”