President Donald Trump trashed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after the history-making Democratic congresswoman announced her retirement from Congress.
Pelosi announced in a video posted on social media that she would not seek another term, ending what had been a monumental run for one of the most influential members of Congress in U.S. history.
But the president, 79, had zero kind words for his longtime political opponent on her groundbreaking career.
Instead, he delivered a diatribe against the woman who at times ran circles around him during his first term as president.
“The retirement of Nancy Pelosi is a great thing for America. She was evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country,” Trump told Fox News’ Peter Doocy.
“She was rapidly losing control of her party and it was never coming back. I’m very honored she impeached me twice and failed miserably twice. Nancy Pelosi is a highly overrated politician,” Trump added.
Pelosi, 85, was instrumental in the passage of the Affordable Care Act, relief during the coronavirus pandemic, legislation in response to the Great Recession and more.
She also went viral for her handling of Trump when she returned as speaker in the second two years of his first term.
The then-speaker went toe-to-toe with Trump on camera at the White House and refused to cave to his immigration demands during the 35-day government shutdown at the end of 2018.
In 2019, she went viral for clapping in his face in a demeaning way at his State of the Union address. Then in 2020, she caused a stir by ripping up his speech after he finished.
She led the House as it moved to impeach Trump twice during his first term including for the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
On Tuesday, Trump and Republicans received a shellacking in the off-year election with voters opting for a series of Democratic candidates up and down the ballot across multiple states.
Leading up to Election Day speculation had been swirling about Pelosi’s future plans, but she said she would not share anything before the vote on on California’s Proposition 50.
The ballot measure giving Democrats the ability to redistrict the deep blue state and potentially pick up as many as five additional seats in next year’s midterms overwhelmingly passed in another rebuke to Trump and the GOP.
Trump’s vicious attack on Pelosi as she makes a departure from Congress came as others have hailed her groundbreaking career.
The former speaker is in her 20th term representing a district in San Francisco. She took up the gavel as the first woman elected speaker of the House in January 2007 after having served in House Democratic leadership since she became the first woman elected second in command to the House minority leader as Democratic Whip in 2001.
Her rise to the most powerful position in the House was celebrated by then-Republican President George W. Bush, who noted he was the first to ever address a “madame speaker” during a State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress.
Pelosi ruled the House with a tight fist during her tenure as speaker. She was known for only holding votes she knew would pass and for working the phones around the clock to keep her caucus in check.
She was the persistent force behind the passage of the Affordable Care Act in early 2010, giving Democrats one of their greatest legislative achievements in the modern era as they had been pushing for a national health care program since FDR’s New Deal.
When Democrats retook the House in 2018, Pelosi returned as speaker, where she proved to be a formidable opponent to Trump. She later led the House through the first part of President Joe Biden’s term to pass the American Rescue Plan Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the bipartisan infrastructure deal with razor-thin margins.
However, in November 2022, after nearly 20 years in congressional leadership, Pelosi announced she would not seek to return to leadership the following year and would instead help usher in a new generation of Democratic congressional leaders. Since then, she has been referred to as speaker emerita.
Pelosi was first elected to represent her California district in 1987 and rose through the party ranks.
Throughout much of her illustrious career as one of the biggest power-brokers in Washington, Pelosi invoked the phrase “for the children,” which she wielded as a mantra while whipping for and passing some of the biggest pieces of legislation.
In her retirement video posted on Thursday, Pelosi thanked the city of San Francisco for sending her to Washington time and again.
“I have truly loved serving as your voice in Congress, and I’ve always honored the song of Saint Francis ‘Lord make me an instrument of thy peace,’ the anthem of our city,” Pelosi said. “That is why I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know I will not be seeking re-election to Congress.”
