A somber-looking Nancy Pelosi cast Kamala Harris and Biden as Democrats in 2024 after a tense discussion with former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile ahead of the vice president's concession speech. He avoided questions from The Post on Wednesday about his role in replacing candidates. at Howard University.
“Do you think it was a mistake to remove Joe Biden from the ballot?” the Post asked as the former House speaker left the event.
Pelosi, 84, was elected to a 20th term representing the San Francisco-based district in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, but ignored all questions, including one about whether she intended to run again in 2026. did.
Current Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison and former Democratic National Committee head Tom Perez also declined to answer questions.
Pelosi was also caught on camera having a discussion with her Brazilian counterpart ahead of Harris' address to supporters.
Footage of the exchange shows Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser standing between them and shaking her head as Pelosi rushes to speak and points.
According to an analysis of the lip movements on the video, Bowser can be seen saying, “Come on.” “Please…please.”
The Brazilian posted in the X newspaper on Thursday morning that speculation that the two were having disagreements was false.
“How foolish,” she said. said. “Speaker Pelosi and I were discussing all the outstanding House races that should be called, or the path to a 'House majority.' Folks, this is the era of Trump: lies, disinformation, gossip. What happened?”
Representatives for Mr. Bowser did not respond to requests for comment.
As a member of the DNC rules committee, Mr. Brazile tried to secure Mr. Biden's nomination in a de facto delegate vote days before the president suspended his campaign on July 21st.
Pelosi's husband, Paul, and daughter, Christine, a Democratic strategist, were also present at Howard's press conference, the latter of whom spoke to her mother a little more than an hour after her exchange with Brazile went viral. posted a video.
Christine Pelosi: “Thank you, Kamala.” in an 8 second clip She snuggled up next to Brazile and the two smiled for a moment.
Jeremy Freeman, a London-based forensic lip reader who was born deaf and has been a University College London certified expert witness for litigants for 16 years, shared this analysis with the Post.
Weeks before Election Day, the California Democratic Party telegraphed its overwhelming confidence that Harris, 60, would win the presidency.
Pelosi: “An election is a decision'' told the Guardian. “You decided to win.”
“I decided some time ago that Donald Trump would never step foot in the White House again as President of the United States or in any other capacity,” she added.
“So when you make a decision, you have to make every decision with winning in mind…and the most important decision is the candidate.”
Harris lost to former President Donald Trump in a crushing electoral vote loss, with major networks calling results in favor of Republicans early Wednesday morning.
“There's no particular reason why we lost, but the big reason was [Barack] Obama's advisers openly encouraged Democratic infighting to eliminate Joe Biden and didn't even want Kamala Harris to be the candidate, yet a non-Obama candidate signed up as the campaign's savior. It was just to implement an outdated Obama-era strategy for the benefit of the public. Biden allies said Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar..
Biden's resignation and support of Harris came after a pressure campaign from Pelosi, other congressional Democrats and deep-pocketed donors like Hollywood star George Clooney. .
The president singled out Pelosi in an Aug. 11 interview on “CBS News Sunday Morning,” saying that if Pelosi remained in the race, his comments about her candidacy would be “really distracting.” He said he was deaf.
“Many of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought I might hurt them in the race,” the president said.
“And I was worried that if I stayed in the race, that would be a topic. You would be interviewed by me about why Nancy Pelosi said this.” [something] …And I thought that would be really distracting. ”
Pelosi confirmed to the Guardian in mid-October that she had not spoken to Biden since he left office.
“Some people around him may not approve of my role,” she added.
The longtime House Democratic leader reportedly responded to an internal poll showing the president had no path to victory after his disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump, 78. He allegedly threatened to make the data public.
On CNN's showdown of the two major party candidates, Biden spoke hesitantly, at times incoherently and in a hoarse voice.
President Trump criticized the oldest president in history after hitting back at Biden's answers about his administration's border policy with a very pointed response: “I really don't know what he said last.” I don't think he even knew what he said. ”
Harris, like 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, postponed her concession speech until Wednesday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after voting closed.
“I'm conceding this election, but not the fight that fueled this campaign,” Viep said in a brief 11-minute speech.
Hundreds of people gathered at an election watch party at Howards Yard the night before, hoping to see her confirmed as the first female president.
In a statement published in X late Wednesday afternoon, Biden stood by his decision to choose Harris as his 2020 running mate.
“As I've said before, choosing Mr. Kamala was the first decision I made when I became a presidential candidate in 2020,” he said. “It was the best decision I made.”
