“If he comes, I’m going to punch him out.”
That was the sentiment voiced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on January 6, 2021, when then-President Donald Trump told his followers that he would march with them to the Capitol.
The quote was recorded as part of a documentary being shot by Pelosi’s daughter that day. The footage aired on CNN Thursday and showed Pelosi watching Trump’s “Save America” rally on television.
That rally would bleed into the eventual riots that raged through the Washington, D.C., streets for hours after the rally’s conclusion.
“If he comes I'm going to punch him out,” Pelosi says in the footage. “I've been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I'm going to punch him out and I'm going to go to jail and I'm going to be happy.”
In the end, Trump did not accompany the rallygoers who made their way to the Capitol.
The video also showed Pelosi’s evacuation from the building as one of the chief targets of the mob rage that festered throughout the afternoon and the evening. Pelosi can be seen continuing to make phone calls asking for the activation of the National Guard and seeking ways to carry on with certifying the 2020 Presidential election that Trump lost.
Some of the footage was also shown during that day’s Jan. 6 committee hearing.
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