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The morning after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was clear: She wanted attention to be on getting Donald Trump out of office.
While in the car on her way to the Capitol, Pelosi’s senior aide, Drew Hammill, was reading the speaker a draft of her opening remarks over the phone, including a call for the resignation of Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund. Pelosi stopped him.
“I think our focus has to be on the president. Let’s not divert ourselves,” Pelosi said, according to documentary footage shot by her daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, which was turned over to Congress by HBO and obtained by CNN.
When Hammill told her the press was focused on the police chief, Pelosi responded: “I don’t want to have it on par with the insurrection and impeachment and the rest of that.”
Alexandra Pelosi has for decades released documentaries on HBO, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery – the parent company of CNN. Pelosi’s documentary on her mother was released in 2022.
The newly revealed video offers an even more detailed look at the speaker’s movements and real-time reaction to the attack on the Capitol. The latest batch of footage turned over to Congress includes shots of Nancy Pelosi on January 5, 6 and 7, including her exit from the Capitol and evacuation to Fort McNair.
The footage is the latest reminder that, nearly four years later, the history of January 6 is still being fought over. Republicans on Capitol Hill have previously released footage shot by Alexandra Pelosi, as well as security video, as they’ve tried to undercut the Democratic-led January 6 committee, absolve Trump of blame and try to instead blame Pelosi for the security failures that led to the breach of the Capitol.
While Trump and his allies in Congress have repeatedly pointed the finger at Pelosi, the speaker of the House is not in charge of Capitol security. That’s the responsibility of the Capitol Police Board, which oversees the US Capitol Police and approves requests for National Guard assistance.
GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia is leading the GOP effort to investigate the 2021 Capitol attack, including looking into the Democratic-led select committee’s actions from the last Congress and the security failures from that day. Loudermilk’s panel has alleged that the former January 6 committee withheld witness transcripts from the public that undercut some of their most explosive claims about the insurrection.
The fight over January 6 is still playing out in the courts, too. On Tuesday, special counsel Jack Smith filed a revised indictment against the former president in an attempt to revive the January 6 case that was stalled following the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
Asked by CNN about the new footage turned over to Congress, Alexandra Pelosi said: “Hope you appreciate the cinematography: backwards and in heels! Now if you want context, go watch Pelosi in The House! Streaming now on HBO!”
The clips, which total just under an hour, show the speaker and her staff discussing her press conference where she called for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, as well as Pelosi in her car leaving the Capitol in the early hours of January 7 after Biden was finally certified after 3:30 a.m.
“I just feel sick what he did to the Capitol and to the country today,” Pelosi says when asked how she felt to be done with Trump. “He’s gotta pay a price for that.”
The footage also gives an extended look at Pelosi’s frantic evacuation from the US Capitol to Fort McNair with other Democratic leaders and builds on previous footage that shows how congressional leaders attempted to quell the insurrection and finish certifying the 2020 election on January 6.
When the speaker was informed she would have to evacuate the Capitol, Pelosi said, “I do not appreciate this.”
As she made her way from the House floor to her SUV escorted by her security detail and senior staff, the speaker lamented that by delaying the official election certification proceedings, the rioters appeared to have succeeded in their mission.
“If they stop the proceedings, they will have succeeded in stopping the validation of the President of the United States,” Pelosi said.
She then raised questions about why security officials did not anticipate the level of violence that unfolded on January 6 and questioned why the National Guard had not been brought in earlier.
“How many times did the members ask, ‘Are we prepared? Are we prepared?’ We’re not prepared for the worst,” Pelosi said. “We’re calling the National Guard, now? It should’ve been here to start out. I just don’t understand it. Why do we empower people this way by not being ready?”
On top of repeatedly asking if the National Guard was coming, Pelosi turned to her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, and said, “I feel responsible,” adding: “We have a responsibility, Terri. We did not have any accountability for what was going on there and we should have. This is ridiculous.”
Pelosi said the National Guard “clearly didn’t know” what was going to transpire on January 6 and continued, “I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more. Because it’s stupid.”
“Shame on us,” the speaker said as she headed to Fort McNair.
The January 7 footage shows Pelosi in an unfiltered state, criticizing the Capitol police chief to her staff. “I’ve never liked Sund. I think he should have been gone a long time ago,” she says, explaining at the same time why she didn’t want to include that in her prepared remarks about Trump.
When she arrives at the Capitol on the morning of January 7, Pelosi told her staff to adjust her rhetoric about impeaching Trump.
“We can’t say we will impeach him. We can say, ‘We’ll call for.’ We don’t know because we don’t have all the blue dogs with us on this subject,” Pelosi says.
Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer initially called for Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. After he did not do so, she moved forward with impeachment a week later.
Several clips show Pelosi huddling with her top aides ahead of a press conference that day. As they discuss how to handle the House sergeant at arms, Paul Irving, Pelosi asks a senior aide to call and inform him that she’s going to say at her upcoming press conference that he’s offered his resignation. Another clip shows the aide returning to confirm that Irving offered his resignation.
But Pelosi’s harshest criticisms are saved for Trump.
“There’s a domestic enemy in the White House,” she tells her staff as they go over her remarks. “And let’s not mince words about this.”
