Days before a State of the Union address in which he’s expected to stress unity, President Trump said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is “very bad for the country,” in an interview set to be aired before the Super Bowl on CBS.
Trump also suggested Pelosi “doesn’t mind human trafficking,” or she wouldn’t oppose funding his border wall.
Trump sat down for nearly an hour in the White House Blue Room Friday afternoon.
“Well, I think that she was very rigid — which I would expect — but I think she’s very bad for our country,” Trump said, when asked what he learned after negotiating with Pelosi in recent weeks. “She knows that you need a barrier. She knows that we need border security. She wanted to win a political point. I happen to think it’s very bad politics because basically, she wants open borders. She doesn’t mind human trafficking or she wouldn’t do this.”
Trump said he doesn’t think lawmakers will reach a deal to fund his border wall.
Trump told CBS that Pelosi is doing a “terrible disservice to our country.”
“She’s — she’s costing the country hundreds of billions of dollars because what’s happening is, when you have a porous border and when you have drugs pouring in, and when you have people dying all over the country because of people like Nancy Pelosi who don’t want to give proper border security for political reasons — she’s doing a terrible disservice to our country,” said Trump.
Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill responded to the president’s remarks, saying, “The president knows, bluster aside, that Democrats are committed to securing our borders while upholding our values as a nation. The president should stop undermining bipartisan efforts to do just that.”
“President Trump’s recklessness didn’t make us safer, it undermined our security with 35 days of border patrol agents, DEA agents, FBI agents and Homeland Security personnel missing paychecks. Democrats have put forward strong, smart and effective border security solutions in the bipartisan conference committee, while the President still refuses to take a second shutdown off the table,” Hammill added.
For nearly two decades, presidents have sat for interviews ahead of the Super Bowl.
Trump skipped the interview last year.
Here’s a preview:
WATCH: @SpeakerPelosi "doesn't mind human trafficking, or she wouldn't do this," accuses President Trump@margbrennan sat down with @realDonaldTrump for an interview airing Sunday on @FaceTheNation https://t.co/WNDyEQ2ta5 pic.twitter.com/Tl3Fk7Ew3p
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 1, 2019