House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has ignored questions from CNN because one of the network’s reporters has been critical of the way Pelosi played politics with coronavirus relief.
During a press conference about the $900 stimulus deal Congress passed this week, Pelosi blamed Republicans for delays in the process.
CNN’s Manu Raju, however, pointed out that Pelosi and other Democratic leaders were the ones who rejected a $1.8 trillion offer from the White House.
“Why is the $900 billion deal more acceptable than the $1.8 trillion offer [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin made this fall?” Raju asked.
Pelosi refused to respond, according to Raju, ignoring his question even though he was one of just five reporters at the news conference.
Pelosi wouldn’t call on me at the press conference, which is becoming a pattern, even though just five reporters were there. She left the press conference as I asked her the question. And she ignored my question in the hallway as well.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 21, 2020
Pelosi admitted earlier this month that the reason she refused to work with Republicans on coronavirus relief earlier was because she wanted to wait until after the presidential election.
“Perhaps you missed what I said earlier: Joe Biden pledged to crush the virus … and a vaccine, an answer to our prayers,” Pelosi said when asked why she was willing to accept a smaller package after rejecting the White House’s much larger one.
“A new president and a vaccine,” she reiterated.
When another reporter asked whether Pelosi considered her choice to wait as a “mistake,” Pelosi snapped: “Don’t characterize what we did before as a mistake,” she shot back. “That was not a mistake, it was a decision, and it has taken us to a place where we can do the right thing without other, shall we say, considerations in the legislation.”
