Nancy Pelosi slammed former prime ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson for backing Donald Trump in the race to the White House on Sunday.
Earlier this month, shortly before the first of Trump’s four criminal trials began, Truss claimed that the “world was safer” when Trump was in office.
She claimed a “strong America” under the presumptive Republican candidate was needed now more than ever.
In January, her predecessor, Johnson – once dubbed “Britain Trump” by the ex-president himself – said Trump’s return to the White House could be “just what the world needs”.
Meanwhile, Pelosi – the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives – has already endorsed incumbent Joe Biden for a second term as the US president.
So it’s no surprise that she dismissed both of their comments when speaking to BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
“I don’t know what they’re talking about,” she said, looking slightly exasperated, before adding: “It may be in their interest to talk about that.”
Both Truss and Johnson have lent further to the right politically in the last few years.
Pelosi continued: “I didn’t know they said that, and I’m sorry for that – but safer for what? Safer for taxes? Safer for people who dislike people of colour and LGBTQ, and women in a rising situation?
“Safer for what, safer for white people, safer for white men?
“What is it safer for?”
Trump has made headlines for his shocking comments around women, the LGBTQ+ community and people on colour over the years.
Pelosi continued: “I came from Baltimore, the national anthem is written there, and my favourite line in it is, ‘proof through the night that our flag was still there.’
“And that flag is our symbol of democracy, with liberty and justice for all – not for tax breaks for the wealthiest people in America or discrimination for people of colour.
“Liberty and justice for all.”
There’s no love lost between Pelosi and Trump, who have been loggerheads for years.
When she was Speaker of the House of Representatives, Pelosi famously ripped up a copy of the then president’s State of Union address while standing behind him, and dubbed it a “manifesto of mistruths”.
November’s presidential election is expected to be a repeat of 2016, except this time Biden and Trump will both be battling it out to win a second term in the White House.
“I don’t know what they’re talking about… safer for what?”
Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disagrees with former UK PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss that the world was “safer” when Donald Trump was US President
#BBCLauraKhttps://t.co/ziHHfapDZHpic.twitter.com/QrLxro4C8h— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) April 28, 2024