MTP EXCLUSIVE: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Discusses Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Attack (Full Transcript)

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Sunday, 09 October 2016 15:39

Written by Olivia Petersen

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi exclusively joined "Meet the Press" live on set this morning, telling moderator Chuck Todd that Hillary Clinton doesn't need advice about how to respond to Trump's comments about Bill Clinton.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also discussed her future as House Speaker and more. See below for full transcript.

Pelosi Responds to Trump: Bill Clinton is "Not on the Ballot" http://nbcnews.to/2dBYDWy

WATCH: Full Interview with Pelosi http://nbcnews.to/2egdze6

MANDATORY CREDIT: NBC NEWS' "MEET THE PRESS WITH CHUCK TODD"

TRANSCRIPT

CHUCK TODD:

Welcome back. We've heard from a number of Republicans this morning reacting to Donald Trump's comments on the Access Hollywood tapes. We're fortunate enough to have a Democrat join us and not just any Democrat, but the Minority Leader of the House, Nancy Pelosi. How are you?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

Good morning. Good.

CHUCK TODD:

Let me start with this mess that Donald Trump finds himself in. Tonight what do you advise Secretary Clinton to do if he does bring up Bill Clinton's past?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

I don't think Secretary Clinton needs any advice from anyone. She is such a talented debater and the rest and when she goes into the Oval Office and she will in January, she will be the best prepared, one of the best prepared people in the history of our country to do so, by dint of her knowledge, her experience, her judgment, her connection to American people and what they need. So I think she will talk about the issues.

CHUCK TODD:

Do you think that stuff is fair game that he brings up?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

No, because you know why? Elections are about the future. They're about the future. He's talking about something, about Bill Clinton, he's not on the ballot. But what's really important to note about all of this is that there's not a dime's worth of difference between Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress when it comes to issues that really affect people's lives. Disrespect for women, whether it's a disrespect by saying equal pay for equal work, respecting a woman's decision to make about the size and timing of her family, whether it's about Medicare and Social Security.

Pence voted to privatize Social Security when President Bush was President and he voted three times for the Ryan budget to voucherize Medicare, to take away the guarantee. So issues that relate to the well being of women are more important than their locker room talk.

CHUCK TODD:

But it's interesting that you bring up, you want to tie, House Republicans to Donald Trump, I understand that a lot of Republicans say Donald Trump doesn't represent the Republican Party, but it wasn't just Republicans who said that, a pretty prominent Democrat said this at the Democratic Convention. Let me play the sound.

(BEGIN TAPE)

BARACK OBAMA:

Look, we Democrats have always had plenty of differences with the Republican Party. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's precisely this contest of ideas that pushes our country forward. But what we heard in Cleveland last week wasn't particularly Republican and it sure wasn't conservative.

(END TAPE)

CHUCK TODD:

Did the President inoculate rank and file Republicans from Donald Trump with that comment?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

No, no, no. I completely agree with what the President said. The Republican Party is the Grand Old Party, it's done great things for our country, what we've been saying to them is take back your party. It's been hijacked by a radical wing of I don't even know of what, of our country, not even of your party.

And when President Bush was President, we treated him with respect. We got a lot done working together. We opposed the war in Iraq and privatizing Social Security, but he was one of the best Presidents on immigration. He was disappointed in his own party for not supporting that. We had one of the biggest energy bills in the history of our country and the list goes on. So no, we need a strong Republican Party. I don't paint everybody with the same brush, but the Republicans in the House of Representatives, I do.

CHUCK TODD:

Okay. Let me ask you about something that came out in these leaks, some leaks, some hacking of John Podesta, was some speech excerpts.

REP. NANCY PELOSI::

Yeah.

CHUCK TODD:

There was one speech excerpt from Hillary Clinton that implied, and let's take a look at it, it implied the idea that she says one thing. "But if everybody's watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So you need both a public and a private position." It sounds like what she's saying is, "Well, I'm going to tell you one thing here in this private speech and I am going to have a public position another way." Trade, for instance, seems to be one topic where she seems to say one thing behind the scenes and one thing publicly. How do we trust her trade position, for instance?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

Well, I trust her trade position because what she's saying is that we are a global economy, we have to face that reality, but we don't have to accept TPP. And that we should recognize, sit down, start with workers, growing paychecks and put trade policy together that way, rather than starting with investment in corporate America.

CHUCK TODD:

You take her at her word that she will never support TPP?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

Oh, absolutely.

CHUCK TODD:

And you're there, too? You will never support TPP?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

Yeah, well, I want to have a trade agreement and I've said to my members I didn't want to give anybody a fast-track; we didn't give it to Bill Clinton, we didn't give it to President Bush and we didn't give it to Barack Obama. We were indiscriminate, Democrats and Republicans, in terms of saying, "Congress should have their prerogative to have more say on how trade agreements affect American workers." And so, yeah, no, we're against most TPP, overwhelmingly, the Democrats.

CHUCK TODD:

You take her at her word that she is not somehow saying two things and she is not just doing-- you know, some progressives, some Bernie Sanders supporters see that and they're just sitting there, going, "You know what? This is why I don't trust her."

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

No, I think what you hear, and that's the first time I'm hearing that, but what you're hearing is that we should have a trade agreement. It isn't TPP, because that isn't what grows America, it doesn't start with the American worker. It rejects any discussion of climate and relationship to commerce. So Hillary Clinton, the fact is she has such great knowledge; she has a vision about her country and it's about strengthening the middle class.

And that is the biggest difference between Democrats and Republicans. Classically, trickle down economics, tax breaks for the rich, or middle income economy, growing the middle class and those who aspire to it and having consumer confidence to spend and inject into the economy to grow the economy.

CHUCK TODD:

How damaging were Bill Clinton's comments about Obamacare when he said it was-- call it, "the craziest thing," talking about folks getting squeezed in the middle. Small businesses, folks, basically, that are not eligible for subsidies. And even when he clarified it, he basically circled what he believes, what he circled was essentially the issue that Republicans are bringing up on the campaign trail.

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

Not damaging at all.

CHUCK TODD:

You don't think it's damaging at all?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

No, the Affordable Care Act, 20 million more people have access to affordable, quality healthcare. Not only that, tens of millions more are no longer subjected to pre-existing conditions, eliminating--

CHUCK TODD:

Do you acknowledge this problem with premiums? And do you acknowledge this problem in the middle here with small businesses really struggling?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

I wanted single payer-- I mean, I'd love a single payer. I wanted a public option, which would address that. But we've never done anything, whether it was Social Security, Medicare and the rest where we haven't said, "Let's see how this works and let's improve it."

But no, I wouldn't worry about that. But what I do think is that the Affordable Care Act stands there with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act as a pillar of health and economic security for American families. And I think it's really important to know that the Republicans have voted over 65 times to eliminate it. And they have voted more than one time to dismantle Medicare by taking away the guarantee. The Ryan budget takes away the guarantee. Pence voted for that three times.

CHUCK TODD:

Final question: How confident are you that you will get the Speaker's gavel?

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

Oh, it's not about me. It's about the Democrats winning as many seats. But I want the American people to win in this election, so we can take this to a place where we really are talking about issues that affect them in their daily lives. We can try to find some consensus. And one of the other differences between Democrats and Republicans, we really do come forward to work in a bipartisan way.

President Obama certainly did that. We did that very respectfully with President Bush. I hope that we can take this debate to a place where the American people are not disgusted and turned off by what's happening in the campaign, but instead, inspired by it.

CHUCK TODD:

All right, Nancy Pelosi--

REP. NANCY PELOSI:

Hey, go Giants.

CHUCK TODD:

I saw the orange, no comment. I'll leave it there as a Dodger fan. When we come back, how big a role will the Trump tape play both tonight and in the next week? Stay with us.

# # #

Images courtesy of NBC's Meet The Press and used with permission.