AUSTIN, Texas – Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested former President Trump might skip the next presidential debate due to “cowardice,” but the Republican candidate's campaign argued she was simply trying to spread “fake news.”
Pelosi attended the Texas Tribune Festival over the weekend, where she discussed a variety of topics with journalist Kara Swisher and signed copies of her latest book.
Pelosi spent most of her time sharply criticizing Trump, and her harshness only increased when the conversation turned to Tuesday's highly anticipated ABC News presidential debate.
Swisher asked Pelosi what advice she would give to former President Trump ahead of his showdown with Harris.
Pelosi, 84, joked, “Do you think he'll show up?”
Pelosi smiled slightly, and the mostly liberal audience erupted in laughter, followed by applause.
Swisher asked, “Do you know something that I don't know?”
“I see cowardice when I see it,” Pelosi responded.
Swisher then said Pelosi was likely echoing former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who previously called Trump a “misogynist pig” on the same stage at the Tribune Festival.
“Isn't she wonderful?” Pelosi said of Cheney.
Earlier in the conversation, Pelosi told Swisher that her current title was “chairman emeritus,” but that her title of “speaker” would remain.
The Trump campaign dismissed Pelosi's suggestion that the former president would skip the debate as “fake news.”
“Nancy Pelosi has no idea what she's talking about and is a proven liar and con artist. If she wasn't busy giving herself fake titles to make herself feel better, she's spreading fake news because that's the only thing she's ever done,” Trump spokesman Steven Chan told Fox News Digital.
Pelosi and Trump have a long-standing mutual animosity towards each other and have periodically traded harsh words over the years.
In 2020, Speaker Pelosi famously ripped up a printed copy of the State of the Union address immediately after President Trump finished speaking to a joint session of Congress.
Trump and Harris are scheduled to debate Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
