Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi highlighted her longstanding and warm relationship with the Bush family in an interview with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki.
“We were friends. He was a very lovely person,” Pelosi told Psaki of her friendship with President George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018.
Pelosi appeared on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” where the former speaker spoke about the upcoming election, President Biden’s election withdrawal, her new book, “The Art of Power,” and her decades-long friendship with the Bush family.
“You also speak glowingly about the Bush family, particularly George H.W. Bush. I love that bit. Your family goes way back. But you also have good things to say about his son, George W. Bush. That may surprise people who read the book, because you were a strong opponent of the Iraq War,” Psaki asked Pelosi in the interview that aired Sunday.
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First Lady Barbara Bush and President George H.W. Bush attend the National Medal of Arts ceremony at the White House on November 19, 1989. (Ron Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)
Pelosi said she first developed a relationship with George H.W. Bush in the late 1980s, when the two were at odds over China policy after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
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“I came into Congress and began opposing policy toward China very soon after the Tiananmen Square incident. I came into Congress in ’87, and that happened in ’89. So I disagreed with President George Herbert Walker Bush on that. But it was a difference of opinion. It wasn’t animosity. It was just a policy issue, nothing personal,” Pelosi explained.
Nancy Pelosi in 2021 (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File)
A friendship quickly blossomed between the two before Pelosi’s son, George W. Bush, became president in 2001. Pelosi said in an interview that she also developed a cordial relationship with the 43rd president, despite their political differences.
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“When President George W. Bush was being sworn in, I went to the White House, as is customary, and escorted him up to the Capitol, and he said, ‘My mom and dad are here.’ I said, ‘I can’t wait to meet him. He’s a sweet man.’ And he said, ‘Why do people say that about him and never say that about me?'” Pelosi said, smiling about the encounter.
She also recounted in the interview that when Pelosi attended a White House Christmas gathering during President George W. Bush’s administration, H.W. Bush came up to her, told her about his family, and joked, “Mr. Speaker, give my kids a break.”
“It’s a great story,” Psaki said of the exchange, laughing, “I mean, it’s a story that every parent can relate to.”
Pelosi released a book this month, “The Art of Power,” in which she makes repeated references to her “warm relationships” with the Bush family, President H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush.
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Former President George W. Bush attended the funeral with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi as former President George H.W. Bush’s body was laid to rest in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on December 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst Pool/Getty Images)
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Pelosi’s interview came after the 2024 presidential race was upended last month when Biden dropped out of the race amid growing concerns about his mental health. As speculation grew that Biden would withdraw, The Associated Press reported that Democratic leaders, including former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and Pelosi, had been secretly lobbying for Biden to drop out over concerns he could not beat former President Trump.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with President Biden in the East Room of the White House on June 13, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Pelosi has denied speculation that she led a coup to pressure Biden to drop out of the race, but said she had not spoken to him since he dropped out of the race this month.
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“Is things going well between you two?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Pelosi in an interview this month.
“I’ll have to ask him,” Pelosi replied, “but I hope so.”
“Is there a way to restore our friendship?” Psaki pressed Pelosi in the interview broadcast Sunday.
“Three generations of our family have loved Joe Biden. My husband and I, of course, have known him for a long time. We respect and love him and Jill. He and Jill and their family are just so wonderful. Our children have always loved them. We have pictures of them when their children were grown and now our grandchildren are grown,” Pelosi responded.
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“But the most important thing we need to do is win the election, continue his legacy and extend that legacy to the presidency and vice presidency of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to accomplish even more,” Pelosi continued.
