President Donald Trump said on Nov. 7 he wasn’t “being sarcastic” and praised Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for being the likely Speaker of the House now that the Democrats have taken a majority in the House.
“I give her a lot of credit, she works very hard and she’s worked long and hard. I give her a great deal of credit for what she’s done and what she’s accomplished,” he said.
The president also stated that he’s looking forward to working with Democratic leadership in the House. “We actually have a great relationship,” Trump said of Pelosi in the White House press conference.
“I really think and I really respected what Nancy said last night about bipartisanship and getting together and uniting,“ Trump also said. ”She used the word ‘uniting’ and she used the ‘bipartisanship’ statement which is so important because that’s what we should be doing.”
But Trump stressed that if “Democrats think they are going to waste taxpayer money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of classified information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game!”
Trump, along with other Republicans, have made Pelosi a target in ads.
In a victory speech, the 78-year-old California lawmaker said there is a “bipartisan” responsibility in Congress while the Democrats now have a “responsibility to find our common ground when we can, stand our ground where we can.”
“We’ll have a bipartisan marketplace of ideas that makes our democracy strong,” she said.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Nov. 7, that Trump called several Republican winners to congratulate them.
Pelosi faces some resistance to become the next speaker of the House, but she still remains the prohibitive favorite to win.
Pelosi served as the first female Speaker of the House between 2007 to 2011 before Republicans took over.
