Nancy Pelosi spent the duration of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack focused on ensuring Joe Biden would be certified president as soon as possible. Then she turned her attention to Donald Trump.
“I just feel sick about what he did to the Capitol and the country today,” Pelosi said as she slumped, visibly exhausted, in the back of her SUV in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 7. “He’s got to pay a price for that.”
Pelosi’s comment was included in about 50 minutes of unaired footage captured by her daughter, filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi, who was at the former speaker’s side at key moments on Jan. 5, 6 and 7 in 2021. POLITICO has reviewed the footage, which HBO turned over this week to the Republican-led House Committee on Administration.
The panel is conducting an investigation aimed at undermining the findings of the Jan. 6 select committee, which found Trump singularly responsible for the havoc his supporters unleashed on the Capitol, and spotlighting the security failures that exacerbated the violence. The panel has reviewed video from various sources, including security footage and the clips from HBO.
It’s the most detailed glimpse yet of Pelosi’s rushed evacuation from the Capitol, showcasing her deep discomfort at being forced to flee from the rioters — who she feared would see the evacuation as a twisted victory — and her insistence that Congress return to finish certifying the election. It also showed how her focus quickly shifted to impeaching Trump for a second time, an effort that was ultimately successful, as well as preparing to fire Capitol security officials who she believed mismanaged the threats to the building.
The speaker’s evacuation
In the footage, Alexandra Pelosi captured the chaotic moments after the then-speaker was whisked off the House floor by Capitol Police officials and rushed through the tunnels of the Capitol to her waiting SUV. HBO acknowledged that the 10-minute clip of Nancy Pelosi’s evacuation was redacted to remove stray comments from her minor grandson, who was at her side during the evacuation.
As she moved, Pelosi immediately inquired as to whether then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had approved a request for the National Guard. Her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, responded that he had. Moments later, a security official at Pelosi’s side informed her the pro-Trump mob had “already breached the Capitol.”
At first, Pelosi scolded security officials for forcing her evacuation. “I did not appreciate this,” she said. “I do not support this.”
“If they stop the proceedings, they will have succeeded in stopping the validation of the presidency of the United States,” she added. Pelosi then lit into Capitol security officials for failing to anticipate the attack.
“How many times did the members ask, ‘Are we prepared? Are we prepared?’ We’re not prepared for the worst,” Pelosi continued. “We’re calling the National Guard, now? It should’ve been here to start out. I just don’t understand it. Why do we empower people this way by not being ready?”
The comments build upon similar remarks Pelosi made that were revealed in a previous batch of her daughter’s footage. That video highlighted congressional leaders’ frantic efforts to facilitate the National Guard’s arrival at the Capitol and their frustration at the hours-long wait while Capitol and D.C. police were being battered by the mob. The new footage builds on that context and provides a more personal look at Pelosi’s decisions during the chaos and in the immediate aftermath.
‘How quick can Trump pardon them?’
As Pelosi huddled with congressional leaders at Fort McNair, waiting for authorities to quell the riot and secure the Capitol, visibly shocked lawmakers offered play-by-play commentary while watching news footage.
“How quick can Trump pardon them?” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asked while watching video of the rioters. Nearby, Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and other House leaders Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and James Clyburn (D-S.C.) did not offer a response.
Trump did not take any steps in the final two weeks of his presidency to pardon Jan. 6 rioters but has indicated in recent months that he would do so in a second term.
As the leaders began to contemplate returning to the Capitol, they expressed more frustration as Trump released a video statement. In it, the former president praised the rioters, repeated his false claims that the election had been stolen and then urged them to go home.
“We shouldn’t let him off the hook, Nancy. We issued a statement saying he’s got to make a statement. He comes up with this BS,” Schumer said.
“Typical Trump,” Hoyer piped in.
After a beat, Pelosi said: “Insurrection. That’s a crime, and he’s guilty of it.”
Inside Pelosi’s planning
By the morning of Jan. 7, Pelosi’s attention had turned to a forceful statement she planned to deliver at a press conference, declaring Trump a danger to the republic who incited “an armed insurrection against America.”
In a car en route to the Capitol, she spoke by phone to her top aides — including press secretary Drew Hammill, McCullough, senior adviser Jamie Fleet and communications director Henry Connelly — about the content of her statement. The group began to craft her message. When Connelly proposed calling for the resignation of Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, Pelosi stopped him.
“I think our focus has to be on the president. Let’s not divert ourselves,” Pelosi said, though she added: “I never liked Sund. I think he should’ve been gone a long time ago.”
“The press is very focused on this,” Hammill chimed in, noting that POLITICO had just reported that Schumer was preparing to remove the Senate’s top security official. “Heads are rolling is what we’re saying.”
“I don’t want to have it on a par with the insurrection and impeachment and all of that,” Pelosi replied, saying she would mention it if a reporter asked her about it rather than simply volunteer it.
Pelosi also noted that her statement could not affirmatively say “we will impeach” Trump, because she wasn’t sure all Democrats were on board.
“We don’t have all the Blue Dogs with us on this subject,” Pelosi said, referring to a group of centrist House Democrats.
The Trump campaign and Sund did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The House Administration Oversight Subcommittee, which is leading the Jan. 6-focused investigation, issued a statement criticizing Pelosi for shifting “the focus of the failure on President Trump” rather than taking “responsibility for her failure to secure the Capitol grounds on January 6.”
The conversation the day after the attack continued in Pelosi’s office in person, surrounded by debris from the riot. A large fireplace mirror had been shattered, serving as the backdrop to the discussion. A pair of pink boxing gloves, given to Pelosi as a gift, were visible on a side table just hours after rioters had manhandled them while ransacking her office.
Pelosi said she had spoken to Sund on Jan. 6 and that “he was throwing his own people under the bus.” As they discussed how sharply to criticize Sund for the Capitol Police’s failures, Pelosi urged aides to “soften” the language, describing a broad “failure of leadership at the top of the Capitol Police.”
The discussion then turned to the fate of the House’s top security official, Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving. The group discussed whether to keep Irving around to manage security for the upcoming inauguration.
“There’s no use keeping somebody around who’s going to blow it, right?” Pelosi said.
McCullough noted that Irving had already privately signaled his plan to retire but that he had stayed on longer at their request to help with the inauguration.
“Only as a favor to us,” McCullough added.
“I don’t care,” Pelosi replied.
“He was going to stay through February, until we found a replacement,” McCullough added.
“But was he just incapable? I mean, he was a Secret Service guy,” Pelosi said.
Fleet volunteered that he had just spoken to Irving, who he said was transparent about the failures that occurred. Irving told him that security officials failed to predict the size of Trump’s crowd — and the effect that Trump’s words would have on them.
Pelosi asked if she could tell reporters that Irving had offered his resignation.
“He hasn’t done that specifically,” Fleet replied. “Want me to call him now and ask him to do that?”
The group agreed, and Fleet left to communicate Pelosi’s wish to Irving, who subsequently did resign his post.
Pelosi wrapped up the conversation by asking for a list of Trump’s Cabinet so she could call them out by name when she urged them to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove the president from office. She also said she intended to describe Trump as “a domestic enemy in the White House.”
“Let’s not mince words about this,” Pelosi said.
Ultimately, she did not identify Cabinet members by name or use the “domestic enemy” line in her statement.
After exiting the meeting, Hammill read Pelosi statements from other national figures who had condemned Trump’s handling of the Jan. 6 attack. When the aide read a quote from former Bush administration Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff — a forceful call for Trump’s resignation or removal — Pelosi paused.
“Good for him,” she said.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this report misspelled the first name of Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff.
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