'This Week' Transcript 1-7-24: House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi & Rep. Tony Gonzales
Interview
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Happy New Year, George. Thank you for having me.
I'd first like to start with Perry, Iowa, is certainly on my mind. My heart goes out to that community. Our kids are telling us something, and we need to start listening. I'm of the mindset we can both protect our children in school and the Constitution. It doesn't have to be either/or.
As far as this January 6th new details coming out, you know, I was there, and so, you know, the day before, I sent my family home because I felt they were unsafe. And -- and, George, I spent 20 years in the military. I've been in Iraq and Afghanistan. The morning of January 6th, the -- the smell in the air smelt like chaos, and that's exactly what the day turned out to be.
While -- while the speaker and other members were fleeing the chamber, there were a handful of us that were running to the door and standing by Capitol Police, barricading, making sure that rioters did not enter our chamber.
And I'd say, you know, it felt very contentious there. There was an anger built in our country then, and three years later, that anger has not stopped. There's this division that continues to get fueled. The easiest thing to do in politics is to blame someone else. I think it's time for us as Americans to set aside our differences, and how do we heal this country and bring it back together?
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Well, George, Donald Trump wasn't responsible for January 6th. The anger in this -- that was built up by people that no longer believe in the system are what was responsible. And that hasn't changed. More and more people do not believe in the systems. And you've got to -- sometimes you win; sometimes you lose, but you have to believe in our institutions.
I look at it through the lens, that was a dark day, and I never want to see January 6th happen again or something like that, or riots across our country. How do we -- how do we calm everybody down? How do we bring this country together?
I'd also say, in my district, which is 70 -- 42 percent the southern border, 70% Hispanic, people aren't talking about January 6th. They're talking about feeling safe in their homes. They're talking about putting food on the table, keeping their kids safe in school.
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Well, they're -- they're certainly not hostages. When I think of a hostage, I think of what happened, you know, Hamas taking the hostages in Israel just three months ago. They're certainly not heroes. You know, they -- they -- they broke the law, and we have to obey our laws. We are a nation of laws, and they have to obey the laws.
I'd understand we never got to the root of why they did that. It was always, kind of, a brush-over, and it immediately went into politics. If we continue to kick the can down the road and not get to the root of the issue of why people are angry, it's going to create more dangers.
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Well, they felt as if President Biden stole that election, and nothing has changed since then. You know...
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Of course, not. Of course he didn't steal the -- he is -- he is the president of the United States. But Senator -- Senator Biden was this bipartisan, deal-making individual that everyone thought they were going to get. President Biden has turned out to be much different.
Now I hope that changes, right? We have some very big-ticketed items. This national security package is the first thing that comes to mind. But -- but this is the reason why Americans are angry and upset. And unless we tackle that issue, we're going to see more of the same.
I worry about 9/11, but I also worry about -- think back to the Oklahoma City bombing. I mean, when people are angry, they do desperate things.
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Well, I think back to the policies when President Trump was -- was in office, and I think back to my district. We did not have the border crisis that we have now. We did not have the humanitarian turmoil. We did not have the chaos.
That's the number one thing. In my district, our lives are turned upside down, and we just want to get back to normal. It's a reason why -- you're seeing the polls say Hispanic -- Hispanic voters are no longer an automatic yes for the Democratic Party.
What I mean by this is we just have to solve people's issues, and the issues in my district is the border's turned upside down. It's the reason why I hosted Speaker Johnson and over 60 members of my colleagues on Wednesday, and it's the reason two days later, I hosted my Democratic colleague Don Davis from North Carolina.
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I do think that's fundamental, and I -- but it's also an election year. So, you're going to see everybody throw fuel in the fire as fast as they can. And the rhetoric is only going to increase. We're at the beginning of this year. So it's only going to increase as things go on.
I'd much rather see leaders come to the table and go, how do we solve problems? The reason I suspect -- you know, I spoke with one of the Senate negotiators, that we will see a Senate package this week.
And that's encouraging. I want us to see that. I want us to start talking about how we start tackling these national security issues that we have.
The president put forward a $14 billion supplemental package. Well, George, only $2 billion of that is for -- is for security, border security. These are the kind of -- the devils in the details and I think there's an opportunity here for us to protect America, keep Americans safe, but also protect our allies, Israel and Ukraine.
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Endorsements are -- this is what I've learned about endorsements. You get -- you get all their enemies and hardly any of their friends. Endorsements are just a piece of paper.
But I do endorse -- I do endorse President Trump, and I think President Trump's policies were very successful, and I look forward to getting back to those policies, and I'm not going to back away from that.
I think -- I think the American public are -- are not happy with the current situation that is happening, and something has to change.
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I mean, if you want everything Donald Trump says and does, you want to put on my back, we're going to be here all day because he's a busy man.
I look at it through the lens of as a member of Congress representing nearly half of the border, I can either focus on the shiny object and talk about, you know, what President Trump had for breakfast or what he said last night, or I can try to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come up with real, tangible border security solutions, and that's what I've been doing nonstop.
You know, I -- once again, I welcomed over 60 members, both Democrats and Republicans, to my district last week. I will -- I will host anyone that wants to come to the border and find meaningful solutions.
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