Speaker Emerita Pelosi on CNN's Inside Politics

I'm joined now by the former Speaker of the House, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of California. Thank you so much for being here. You just heard Nick Robertson lay out the options being discussed inside Israel about how to retaliate. Yesterday, you said that the U.S. is unwavering in our commitment to the protection and defense of the Israeli people. Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was on with Wolf Blitzer here on CNN. He said now is the moment to destroy Iran's nuclear program. If Israel does that, should the U.S. support the move? Well, as you know, good morning. Good morning in California. As you said before, Nick was on, we want to avoid a bigger war. As you know full well that masterfully, President Obama had a plan to reduce the capacity of the Iranians to produce a nuclear weapon. The next president in line, he came in and eliminated that, unfortunately, because now Iran is on the path again for enriching uranium more fully, taking it closer to having the capacity for weapons. I don't know how close they are to that, and if I did, I wouldn't say. So again, we want to avoid a bigger war. We do know that Hezbollah and Hamas are proxies for Iran. They are the troublemakers in the region. The fact that Israel was attacked, 200 ballistic missiles coming into Israel, thank God, without any major effect, shows that they must be stopped. But I don't think we should get in an open discussion now as to how we deal with their nuclear. We had a plan to do that. I think that the other countries, as we had before, would work together to do that again. But the reason that they're in the strong position they are today, nuclear-wise, is because of the failed policy of Donald Trump. We are where we are right now with regard to whatever it is that Iran has with regard to nuclear capability. So let me just press you on that. It sounds like you're saying that Israel should be cautious about going after Iran's nuclear program, or not. Tell me exactly what you believe, and then even extend that to the question of its oil field. Well, it's up to Israel to decide about their security. But the fact is, we are, as you said earlier and I'll repeat it again, we are trying to avoid a wider war. And would that cause a wider war? It may. Again, there has to be a weighing of opportunities, a weighing of possibilities in the region. I'm not going to come on this show and say Israel should attack the nuclear facilities in Iran. I've never really been for that. I was for a diplomatic solution, which President Obama successfully put forth to reduce the nuclear capability and possibilities of Iran. And I think as much as we can do diplomatically, we should do to avoid a wider war. Madam Speaker, you are not shy about your criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Do you trust his judgment to carry out any retaliatory attack, or just about where we are right now? Well, I never really support what Israel... Israel opposed President Obama's nuclear agreement. That was China, Russia, EU, countries around the world supporting that diplomatic initiative. Israel opposed it. I think that's one of the reasons Trump probably opposed it too. I don't know. You have to ask him. But whatever his policy is, it has taken Iran to a stronger nuclear position. So Netanyahu, I'm a mom, I'm a grandmother. Free the hostages. Let's that be the priority. It's almost one year. Why couldn't he use whatever it is, his leverage, his might, whatever it was, to free the hostages? Israel was attacked on October 7th unmercifully. It was a horrible thing. But those hostages need to be freed. I'm thinking of Hirsch, that young man who we thought... I saw his parents recently. We thought in any day he would be free, and they killed him. He died. So again, every day is more dangerous for them. Free the hostages. So if you ask me if I respect his discretion, his judgment, and the rest, I think he should have had the hostages free first and foremost before talking about the Philadelphia corridor I want to turn our discussion back to the United States and to the presidential election. And I want to ask you about a moment in last night's vice presidential debate. And listen to what JD Vance said specifically about the issue of reproductive rights when he was asked about it. I grew up in a working class family in a neighborhood where I knew a lot of young women who had unplanned pregnancies and decided to terminate those pregnancies because they feel like they didn't have any other options. And you know, one of them is actually very dear to me. And I know she's watching tonight, and I love you. And she told me something a couple years ago that she felt like if she hadn't had the abortion that it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship. We've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue where they frankly just don't trust us. An undecided female voter in CNN's post-debate focus group said last night that answer made her more encouraged about the GOP ticket because she said he sounded more progressive than she expected. What would you say to her? Let me first just say since returning to domestic, that our thoughts and prayers of the people of North Carolina and the South for the assault that they were under from the weather. It's so sad that people lost their lives, their homes, so much, their place of business and the rest. So personally, condolences to lost family members. In terms of last night, what can you say? You saw the difference between truth and trust in terms of walls and con and slick in terms of this administration is for an abortion ban. And when they say leave it up to the states, the states have their own abortion bans. We need to protect them by having Roe v. Wade be the national policy of our country. I don't know what hope she saw in that. A woman's right to choose is to choose to have the child or not have the child or to engage in contraception, which the Republicans, 194 of them, voted women do not have the right to contraception. So understand this, women of America, I'm a mother of five, five children, six years and seven days. I have two birthdays this week of my children. And it is wonderful for me, but not up to me to decide what other people should do, nor is it up to Vance or Trump. So understand this, in their 2025 project, they not only want to have a federal ban on abortion, they want to close the Department of Education to educate those children. The list goes on and on. I think that that was clever to use that personal connection, but it isn't real in terms of women having the right to make their own decisions and not politicians making their decisions for them. This is a very serious matter. I mean, first, let me just put it in perspective. First of all, they weren't telling the truth about it. They weren't telling the truth about January 6th. How about him saying the president was encouraging peaceful demonstrations at the Capitol? How about him saying the president was for a peaceful transfer of power on January 20th? How about him saying that President Obama saved the Affordable Care Act? Give me a break. This is over 60 times the Republicans tried to take it down. They failed because of just the American people, but also John McCain. So what we saw there was misrepresentation after misrepresentation. But Kahn and Slick, as opposed to Wallace, who was trustworthy and truthful about what he had to say, his sincerity, his authenticity, I think, won the night. But in terms of a woman's right to choose, you cannot, you cannot, I mean, eight Republicans voted for a woman to have the right to contraception, eight, in the Congress, eight, 194 no. So again, unfortunately that Kahn may have worked on that young woman, but I hope that she never has to be subjected to the policies that they will subject her to. This is about truth versus Kahn. I congratulate Tim Walz. Madam Speaker, thank you so much for being here. I want to congratulate you on being recognized during the 30th anniversary of the Presidio National Park site. I know you've been one of the biggest advocates for the Presidio's National Park status. It now has Pelosi Plaza. So congrats there. We're showing a picture. Oh, thank you. It was done in a bipartisan way, in a bipartisan way. That's what I'm so proud of. Thank you. Thank you for being here.