Nancy Pelosi Said She Wanted to 'Punch' Donald Trump During Jan. 6 Insurrection, Video Shows

Anna Lazarus Caplan
·3 min read
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Nancy Pelosi Said She Wanted to 'Punch' Donald Trump During Jan. 6 Insurrection, Video Shows
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Nancy Pelosi said she wanted to "punch" President Donald Trump on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurgency, according to footage aired by CNN.

"If he comes, I'm going to punch him out," the House speaker said in the new video released Thursday. "I've been waiting for this, for trespassing on Capitol grounds. I'm going to punch him out, and I'm going to go to jail, and I'm going to be happy."

Pelosi was shown talking to aides in the previously unaired footage, which was shot by her daughter, documentary filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi.

Part of Alexandra's behind-the-scenes video coverage aired in an edited version during Thursday's final meeting of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

RELATED: Jan. 6 Committee Airs Never-Before-Seen Footage of Lawmakers During Capitol Riot: 'Do You Believe This?'

A video of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is played during a hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol in the Cannon House Office Building on October 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. The bipartisan committee, in possibly its final hearing, has been gathering evidence for almost a year related to the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol. On January 6, 2021, supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building during an attempt to disrupt a congressional vote to confirm the electoral college win for President Joe Biden.

Alex Wong/Getty

Pelosi's outrage came before the Capitol was breached, just after she watched Trump's speech to supporters, where he told them to march to the Capitol to protest Congress' certification of the election.

"Tell him, if he comes here, we're going to the White House," Pelosi said on the video, joking.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, wears a protective mask while walking though the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. Congress is meeting today to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election, with scores of Republican lawmakers preparing to challenge the tally in a number of states during what is normally a largely ceremonial event.

Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty

When Pelosi's chief of staff tells her that the Secret Service was able to "dissuade" Trump from coming to Capitol Hill — something that was corroborated in Thursday's testimony by Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson — she then says she would "punch him out."

RELATED: Regretful Capitol Rioter Says Trump's Election Lies Had Him Hooked, Warns Believers to 'Take Blinders Off'

In earlier footage aired during the committee hearing, Pelosi can be seen in various clips, sitting in an undisclosed secure location as supporters of Donald Trump stormed the building and asking a staffer if lawmakers were still technically in session.

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"There has to be some way to maintain the sense that people have, that there is some security or some confidence that government can function and that you can elect the president of the United States," Pelosi said in the footage. "Did we go back into session?"

A staffer off-camera then said, "We did go back into session, but now apparently everyone is putting on tear gas masks to prepare for a breach."

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) talks to repoorters minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade, which guaranteed a woman's right to an abortion, in the Capitol Visitors Center on June 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. The court ruled 6-3 in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health, overturning a 50-year precedent and sending abortion regulation back to the states. "Today, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court has achieved the GOP’s dark and extreme goal of ripping away women’s right to make their own reproductive health decisions," Pelosi said

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Nancy Pelosi

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"They're putting on their...?" Pelosi then asked quizzically.

"Their tear gas masks," the staffer responded.

"Do you believe this? Do you believe this?" Pelosi quietly said in astonishment.

Elsewhere in the footage, Pelosi could be heard saying that she had gotten reports about the damage done to the building, including "defecation" on the House floor.

"It could take time to clean up the poo-poo... literally and figuratively [that] they are making in the Capitol," Pelosi said in the footage.