House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) claimed that President Donald Trump's attacks on her were fueled by his fear of her competence, and accused the media of being biased against her.
Pelosi made the comments during an interview Sunday with MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart, who asked her why she wouldn't consider stepping aside in order to let a new generation of leaders take control of the Democratic Party.
"Now NBC News has a story about all the Democrats who are running for election this year," Capehart asked, "Democrats opposing Pelosi, these are the 51 people who were surveyed who are candidates, 42 of them are Democratic nominees, 9 of them are incumbents, who have said they will not support you in the run for speaker. Umm, why not if the Democrats take back the House, give up the gavel?"
“NBC has been on a jag of this, this is one of their priorities, to undermine my prospects as Speaker," Pelosi responded.
MSNBC cable news channel is owned by NBC Universal. Pelosi went on to deny that she had asked any one Democrat for their vote.
"The Republicans are spending millions, tens of millions of dollars, against me," she added, "because they're afraid of me. Because I outraise them in the political arena, because I outsmart them at the negotiating table, and because I'm a woman whose going to be at a seat at that table."
“What’s important, and I know better than anybody, is to win this election because I see up close and personal what the Republicans and this president are doing," she concluded.
Pelosi reiterated the point on her social media account, saying, "The President is afraid of [Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)] and he is afraid of me."
"He is afraid of women and minorities being in the lead in Congress," she added.
Pelosi said in the interview that Trump's policies are an attempt to make "America white again."
Democrats are hoping for a "blue wave" in the midterm elections in order to seize the House of Representatives from Republicans. If they do, they will elect the next speaker of the House. However, a recent poll shows that most Americans don't support Pelosi having the speakership if Democrats retake control of the House.
