Speaker Emerita Pelosi on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper

Extraordinary guest. I want to welcome Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi. What an honor to have you here. I want to talk about a lot. I definitely want to talk about the Affordable Care Act, but I want to talk about this secret that Donald Trump is hinting he has with Mike Johnson. A lot of people are concerned. Maybe they're hinting it potentially the speaker not certifying the election. What do you think? Well, first of all, let me say it's my pleasure to be here with you. We're not worried about what secrets he may have. It's no secret that we are going to win the House of Representatives, that Kamala Harris will still be vice president and will again preside in the way Mike Pence did with integrity and constitutionally, and that we will be able to approve of the work of the Electoral College. So he's I don't know what he's talking about, but I don't spend we don't spend time worrying about him. We're agonized. We organize and we're organizing to win the House and we will. And Hakeem Jeffries will be speaker that day on January 6th. But if Speaker Johnson is not planning to certify the election, then what are we in for? Well, you know what? Why don't we just win the election? We have one more week and we'll see how that goes. And hopefully we'll know that night. But it is pretty exciting to see the enthusiasm. I'm almost in a different city every day doing grassroots work as well as message and money mobilization on the ground. And that's what we're doing. And I've never seen so much enthusiasm of people wanting to get out there, knock on doors, make the calls, write the postcards, text their friends or people they're taxed to to do. And we have no more than when when Barack Obama was running. Even more than that. Yeah. Because they will. Barack Obama was spectacular. But this is urgent and they know that. And you've heard people say this is the most crucial election of our time. And we always think it is until this time. This is not like we're running against George Bush or John McCain or Bob Dole or Mitt Romney or Mitt Romney. This is that's really the democracy where you have your ideas and you compete and one party other wins. This is about saving our democracy, but more importantly, about the kitchen table issues of American people. What what's his name is putting out there is ridiculous. And what gets me is that people say, well, I don't like what he says and I don't like how he says this or that, but I like his policy. What policy? To give a tax. The only thing he did when he was president with the Republican Congress was to pass a tax bill that gave 83 percent of the benefits to the top one percent corporations and individuals, the top one percent, adding two trillion dollars to the national debt, two trillion dollars to the national debt. They're so fiscally responsible. No, we are the ones. And when Joe Biden came in, what did he do under his leadership? Sixteen million jobs created the other guy, the worst job creation record of anybody since Herbert Hoover. When you talk about kitchen table issues, health care is clearly one. The Affordable Care Act is now an issue. If Donald Trump wins, he's been very outspoken. He wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. And all he's articulated is he's got concepts of a plan. If the Affordable Care Act is in question or under attack again, what saved it last time was John McCain. Is there a Republican now, a trusted Republican that you could look to to say, well, they've served as John McCain this time around? I don't think that—we are going to win the House. All right. You understand? There's no use speculating on what isn't going to happen. We spend—we don't agonize, we organize. Let me just say this. As we're going door to door, what we're hearing is about health care. And when we won in the election in 18, when people—you know, when he—oh, that's what saved the country. We won the House in 2018, so we could hold him in check. But people said, weren't you lucky health care became the issue of the campaign? I said, no, we weren't lucky. We made our own luck. We had thousands of meetings around the country where people came and talked about the need for keeping the Affordable Care Act. That's how we saved it, then, from all of their assaults. And of course, John McCain was the vote heard around the world with that. But he—what's his name? He says, Obamacare sucks. Forgive my French. I'm just quoting a person who wants to be the president of the United States. Obamacare sucks. No, it doesn't suck. It cures. And if he were to prevail, which, God forbid, he would not, it would be like 45 million people would lose their health care right away. Over 100 million people in our country have a preexisting medical condition. It's over for them. Then let me ask you, because you brought up this point earlier of all these people who say, oh, I don't like what he says, but I like his policies. I ask you, when they tell you that, what are the policies? Besides tax cuts for corporations, besides, you know, blanket deregulation, what do you think it is that has so many people still willing to vote for this person? Well, it depends on who you're talking about. OK. If you're talking about the billionaire class— Sure, I get that one. OK, they don't want to pay their fair share of taxes, they don't want any protections in the law. But that's not Donald Trump's base. No, I understand that. But it's his funding. It's a lot of his funding. So it's not that many people, but it's his funding. And he's misrepresented. You have to give him credit for being a great snake oil salesman. He's a con man. So they don't even—there's hardly anything that you could name that he did in their interest. But people see their interests their own way. But this is—health care is not just about what I talked about, having the coverage and preexisting conditions. It's about reproductive health, as well. And this is where—I'm telling you, the army of volunteers out there is so massive, and it is so encouraging. And so, we see people very carefully doing their voting. In California, we have a very long ballot, I can tell you that. And so it takes time, but we will—everybody will do everything precisely, so it won't be in question. But health care has emerged, because it's a kitchen table issue. It's a health issue. And let me just say one other thing about that kitchen table—the cost of prescription drugs. We have been working for a long time. Finally, under President Biden and Kamala Harris, we were able to get the bill passed without one Republican vote to lower the cost of prescription drugs. If you were using insulin, it was $500, $600 a month. Now it is $35 a month for seniors on Medicare. Now we want that for everyone. We can finally negotiate for lower prices, because we passed the bill. And so this was a great breakthrough. At the handmaiden of the pharma industry, Trump has said, you know, they're going to—well, they've even taken us to court on that. Also, a health issue to me is the air people breathe and the water they drink. And he said to the fossil fuel industry— Have at it. —just give me a billion dollars, and I'll get rid of all that we've done to save the planet. I've had my grandbaby with us earlier today. He's 11 months old. He'll live till the next century. And we want to make sure that all of our children and grandchildren go through life with a planet that is sustainable, a democracy that is strong and protecting their freedoms, and a society that has fairness, not somebody who's giving tax breaks to the wealthy. And then listen to the positive campaign that Kamala is putting forth, Agenda for the Future, her vision for the future versus his. So when they say they like his policy, I'm thinking, name one thing. Do you want no health care, access to health care? Do you want to give rich people the tax break at your expense, adding trillions of dollars to the national debt? Well, I hear you clearly saying Kamala Harris is going to win, Democrats are going to take the house. Well, you're a California girl. Who's going to win the World Series? Well, today I am celebrating the anniversary of the Giants winning the World Series in 2012. It was their second win in three years. OK, but San Francisco's not in the game. But the L.A. Dodgers, I'm guessing, you're rooting for? Well, I am always rooting for California. I was hoping that the Baltimore Orioles, because I'm a fan of Baltimore, too, would have been in the series. So, again, I'm rooting for the national anthem. That's one thing we can all agree. And my favorite line in the national anthem is, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. And that's the job that we have in this campaign, to prove that our flag is still there with liberty and justice for all, as we pledge every day. Speaker, thank you so, so much. Thank you.