Pelosi gets ‘sharp’ when asked about AOC during ’60 Minutes’ interview
Stahl pointed out that Pelosi is 80 years old and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is 81, and she asked why there are no clear heirs in the party. Especially since "The Squad," the group of young progressives, command such a large following on social media.
Pelosi told Stahl that the question was essentially based on a false premise. She responded that party leaders have groomed future leadership, and perhaps she was unaware.
"Why does AOC [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.] complain that you have not been grooming younger people for leadership?" Stahl asked.
Pelosi responded, "I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her—because we are."
Stahl seemed to be taken aback for a moment and said, "That was kind of sharp, kind of dismissing her."
Pelosi said that was not her intention and said AOC is "very effective, as are others—many other members in our caucus that the press doesn’t pay attention to. But they are there and they are building support for what comes next."
Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept in an interview published in December that Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer should no longer hold the leadership positions in the party that they do. She said the party has little interest in grooming future generations.
"I think one of the things that I have struggled with — I think that a lot of people struggle with — is [that] the internal dynamics of the House has made it such that there’s very little option for succession if you will," she said.
Will Congress investigate Trump after he leaves office?
On Tuesday, Democrats won both Senate seats in Georgia's runoff election, giving them a narrow majority in the next Senate, with the help of potential tie-breaking votes from Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Having also defended their majority in the House of Representatives last November, the Democrats will have control of both chambers of Congress — as well as the presidency — come January 20.
But the events in the 24 hours that followed — an insurrection, instigated by the president, that led to the death of five people — largely overshadowed the news.
In a wide-ranging interview this week with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, correspondent Lesley Stahl asked about the Democratic Party's new majority in Congress and how the Speaker intends to use it.
WILL THE HOUSE CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE TRUMP?
The talk on Capitol Hill currently centers on what action politicians will against President Trump before Inauguration Day. Will the House vote to impeach him? Will the cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment?
But the questions of how to handle Mr. Trump's involvement in Wednesday's mob do not expire when his term does at noon on January 20. Will the House continue to investigate him after he leaves office?
"We'll see," Speaker Pelosi said. "It's not a question of let it go. We're not going to let go an insurrection in our country and the attempt of coup d'état so that we cannot validate the election of the next president of the United States."
The Speaker said she has told her members to see what opportunity exists and assess what it will accomplish. She also said the House will continue pursuing cases already underway, including the subpoenas they have already issued.
Speaker Pelosi pointed out that, with regards to potentially illegal activity, those who have surrounded the president could also be exposed.
"Do we want to get on with the future? Yes, of course," Speaker Pelosi said. "But it doesn't mean that we cannot bring justice to the system as we do so."
POLICY ISSUES & USING RECONCILIATION
Now that Democrats are set to control both the House and Senate, Speaker Pelosi is looking ahead to policy priorities she thinks her party will be able to pass, including lowering the cost of prescription drugs and rebuilding American infrastructure.
"We have an array of issues, of legislation, that have been sitting over on Mitch McConnell's desk that passed in a bipartisan way in the House but that he would not bring up" Speaker Pelosi said. "So the power of bringing up legislation makes a big difference."
There are also bills the Senate can now pass without needing any Republican votes, through a legislative process known as reconciliation. Budget reconciliation applies to certain tax, spending, and debt legislation and allows the bills to pass in the Senate with a simple majority, which the Democrats will have. Most other legislation requires a majority of 60 Senate votes and provides senators with the ability to use the filibuster to indefinitely prevent a bill's consideration. The Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010 through reconciliation.
"Georgia was like winning ten votes from the standpoint of reconciliation," Speaker Pelosi told 60 Minutes.
THE RUSSIA HACK AND TRUMP'S TAXES
One of the subpoenas the House is pursuing involves President Trump's tax returns, which Speaker Pelosi said may reveal the extent of the president's ties with Russia.
This week, top national security agencies confirmed that Russia was likely responsible for a vast hack of U.S. government departments, contradicting Mr. Trump's unsupported claim that China was potentially to blame. Speaker Pelosi said that, rather than asserting authority over Russia, Mr. Trump was instead a "handmaiden" for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Speaker also said she agrees with Sen. Mitt Romney, who said the cyberattack amounted to an invasion.
"We have to go forward to make sure we have the proper protection in terms of cybersecurity for our country because this was a very major assault," she said.
The Speaker said she has not received a full briefing on what happened and said the intelligence community may not have the full picture yet.
"But what we do know is the president is, once again, in his Putin denial," the Speaker said. "What is it that Putin has on him?"
Pelosi lays out next steps as momentum builds for impeachment
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday laid out the next steps in the bid to remove President Trump from office in the wake of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. The White House, meanwhile, said Mr. Trump is set to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border on Tuesday and will resume official duties amid the firestorm.
Pelosi said Congress on Monday will move on a motion brought by Congressman Jamie Raskin that calls on Vice President Mike Pence to convene the Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office.
If Pence does not respond, Pelosi said the House will proceed with articles of impeachment, which have been drafted but have not yet been introduced.
In an interview with "60 Minutes," Pelosi said although there are "only a number of days until we can be protected from" Mr. Trump, "he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him."
Democrats have a thin majority in the House, so impeachment could succeed without any Republicans. On Sunday, two moderate Democrats, including one who is the co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, came out in favor of impeachment. In 2019, nearly all Democrats voted for impeachment, along with former independent Congressman Justin Amash. But for Mr. Trump to be removed from office, he would need to be convicted by 67 senators. Republicans will hold onto the majority in the Senate until Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are sworn in.
Once the Senate receives articles of impeachment, it is required to consider them before acting on any other business. If the Senate is required to hold impeachment hearings, they will monopolize the calendar at a time when hearings should be held for President-elect Joe Biden's crucial Cabinet picks.
There's already a confirmation hearing scheduled for Mr. Biden's pick to lead the Defense Department, retired General Lloyd Austin, on January 19, the day before inauguration. That would potentially be delayed. The Senate would also have to delay a vote on a waiver to allow him to serve as defense secretary, which he would need given his recent departure from the military.
Congressman Jim Clyburn on Sunday floated the possibility of impeaching Mr. Trump after he leaves office on January 20. Clyburn suggested they could impeach him after Mr. Biden's first 100 days in office.
Impeaching and convicting Mr. Trump after he leaves office would bar him from holding office in the future.
A Capitol police officer has died days after responding to Wednesday's assault on the building, the Capitol police confirmed Sunday to CBS News. Capitol police said Officer Howard Liebengood died off-duty.
Capitol police said in a statement that Liebengood, 51, served on the Senate side. He had been with the Capitol police department since April 2005. The police union chairman called it a "tragic day."
"We are reeling from the death of Officer Liebengood. Every Capitol Police Officer puts the security of others before their own safety and Officer Liebengood was an example of the selfless service that is the hallmark of USCP," Capitol police union chairman Gus Papathanasiou said in a statement.
