Nancy Pelosi Suggests She Is Open To Speaking To Donald Trump After One Year Of No Contact
It has been one year since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump have spoken to each other, but the 80-year-old politician suggested on Friday that she is open to doing so. As reported by Fox News, Pelosi made the suggestion while speaking to MSNBC host Nicole Wallace, who asked if she would be receptive to the possibility if the president attempted to re-open the “channel of communication.”
“Well, it would depend on what the purpose is,” she said.
The last time Trump and Pelosi spoke was precisely one year ago, as of Friday, during a meeting in 2019 meeting. During the conversation, the pair allegedly verbally attacked each other, which paved the way for the disintegration of the talk.
Nevertheless, Pelosi claimed she has seen more success negotiating with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Trump administration officials than she has with the president.
“Let me say, without the two of us speaking person-to-person, but, either through the airwaves or through the President’s intermediaries, we were able, in that period of time, to pass a huge omnibus bill to keep government open, working with Secretary Mnuchin then.”
Pelosi previously defended her decision not to speak to Trump. She suggested he is unreliable and claimed to be open to working with the White House officials sent by his administration.
While speaking to Wallace, Pelosi pointed to the four bipartisan coronavirus-related bills and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal as examples of successful negotiations between House democrats and Trump’s administration.
“So it isn’t as if it has to be person-to-person between the Speaker and the President. It has to be knowledge for knowledge in terms of what we – what our purpose is, what we know about the challenge we face and what the possible solutions are.”
Back in September, Mnuchin expressed optimism at the prospect of forthcoming pandemic aid legislation. However, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have yet to reach an agreement on a fourth COVID-19 stimulus package. On Thursday, Trump expressed readiness to sign such legislation during his NBC town hall with moderator Savannah Guthrie.
Still, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he is not supportive of a coronavirus package priced between the two goalposts proposed by both sides of the aisle: $1.8 trillion and $2.2 trillion. Instead, McConnell is allegedly preparing to force a vote on a $500 billion bill next week.
Per Salon, McConnell reportedly expects Trump to lose in November, which is purportedly the reason he is throwing a wrench into the bipartisan discussion on a forthcoming coronavirus package.
