AUSTIN, Texas – Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested former President Trump could skip the upcoming presidential debate because of "cowardice," but the GOP nominee’s campaign insisted she’s simply attempting to spread "fake news."
Pelosi appeared at the Texas Tribune Festival over the weekend where she spoke to journalist Kara Swisher about a variety of topics before signing copies of her latest book. Pelosi spent much of the time ripping Trump and turned up the vitriol when Tuesday's highly anticipated ABC News Presidential Debate came up.
Swisher asked Pelosi what advice she would give former President Trump ahead of the matchup with Harris. The 84-year-old Pelosi quipped, "You think he’s gonna show up?"
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The largely liberal audience burst into laughter, followed by applause, as Pelosi slightly smiled.
Swisher asked, "Do you know something I don’t know?"
"I know cowardice when I see it," Pelosi responded.
Swisher then said that she assumed Pelosi agrees with former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who called Trump a "misogynist pig" on the very same stage during a previous Trib Fest event.
"Isn’t she wonderful?" Pelosi said of Cheney.
Earlier in the conversation, Pelosi told Swisher that "Speaker Emerita" is her current position, but "Speaker" remains her title.
The Trump campaign dismissed Pelosi’s suggestion of the former president skipping the debate as "fake news."
"Nancy Pelosi has no idea what she is talking about and has been proven to be a liar and fraud. If she isn't busy giving herself fake titles to make herself feel better, she's peddling fake news because it's the only thing she's ever done," Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.
Pelosi and Trump have a long history of animosity toward each other, regularly trading barbs over the years. In 2020, Pelosi famously tore her printed copy of Trump’s State of the Union address immediately after he finished addressing a Joint Session of Congress.
Trump and Harris are scheduled to debate on Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
