Alexandra Pelosi, a documentary filmmaker and daughter of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), said on Wednesday that her mother is a force to be reckoned with in negotiations.
"She'll cut your head off and you won't even know you're bleeding," Pelosi said about her mother. "You have to give her credit. No matter what you think of her, you have to give her credit because, think about it, think about all those presidents she's endured, right? The Bushes, the Clintons. She's been around. This is not her first rodeo, as your friend George Bush would say. She knows what she's doing. That should let you sleep at night."
Should Nancy Pelosi take over the speakership, as is expected this month, she will have to negotiate with President Donald Trump over a government funding bill. Part of the government has been shut down for 12 days due to Trump demanding funding for his border wall and Democrats insisting no funding be used for a wall.
The congresswoman said resolving the shutdown will be an opportunity for Democrats to show the American people they can govern responsibly.
".@realDonaldTrump has given Democrats a great opportunity to show how we will govern responsibly & quickly pass our plan to end the irresponsible #TrumpShutdown – just the first sign of things to come in our new Democratic Majority committed to working #ForThePeople," she said in a tweet.
.@realDonaldTrump has given Democrats a great opportunity to show how we will govern responsibly & quickly pass our plan to end the irresponsible #TrumpShutdown – just the first sign of things to come in our new Democratic Majority committed to working #ForThePeople. https://t.co/CGl1euCotB
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 1, 2019
CNN anchor John Berman asked the younger Pelosi how she feels about her mother being speaker of the House for a second time.
"I think it says a lot about if you look out into the crowd who you are going to see in that crowd. When Nancy Pelosi came to town, it was a boy's club. That was 30 years ago. Look around tomorrow. It will be a whole new America," Alexandra Pelosi said. "It is going to be a beautiful America. We should take one moment to exhale and say we should be proud of ourselves because we have a beautiful-looking Congress."
After the 2018 election, Nancy Pelosi faced resistance in her effort to become speaker again from numerous Democrats. In the final weeks of the year, she was able to quell the resistance and is likely to gain enough support to become speaker again in the new Congress.