Pelosi doubles down on criticism of Trump: 'He's impeached forever'

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shot back at President Donald Trump Thursday, criticizing his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast as “inappropriate” and labeling his State of the Union address as a “manifesto of untruths.”

Pelosi, speaking at her weekly news conference, also again defended her act of tearing up a paper version of Trump’s address on Tuesday. “He has shredded the truth in his speech. He's shredding the Constitution in his conduct,” she said. “I shredded his ‘state of his mind’ address.”

Tension and outright animosity spiked between Trump and Pelosi in the days after his campaign-like State of the Union speech and his acquittal by the Republican majority in the historic third Senate impeachment trial that ended Wednesday.

Trump complained at the prayer breakfast about the “terrible ordeal” he and his family has been put through by “some very dishonest and corrupt people,” a reference to the five months of impeachment inquiry, impeachment articles and trial in the Senate.

Pelosi remained unrelenting. “He’s impeached forever, no matter what he says or whatever headlines he wants to carry around,” she said. “You're impeached forever. You’re never getting rid of that scar. History will always record that you were impeached.”

But she said she would still be able to work with Trump, even though they have not spoken in months. “There’s no such thing as an eternal animosity,” Pelosi said. “You never know on what cause you may come together with somebody you may perceive as your foe right now. Everybody is a possible ally.”

At the breakfast Trump accused Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) for using “his faith” to justify his vote for convicting Trump on abuse of power charges, and doubted that Pelosi really prays for him, as she has often said in news conferences.

Pelosi defended Romney — “God bless him for his courage” — and called Trump’s criticism “completely inappropriate, especially at a prayer breakfast.”

And she said, “I pray hard for him because he's so off the track of our Constitution, our values, our country, the air our children breathe, the water they drink, and the rest. He really needs our prayers.”

Pelosi said in his address Trump did not tell the truth — “I don’t like to use the word lie” — about what he called the “failed economic policies” of President Barack Obama. “President Trump did not inherit a mess. He inherited a momentum of job creation,” she said.

Under Obama, Pelosi said the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent from 10 percent, the stock market rose to 18,000 from 6,000, and that more than 14 million private sector jobs were created, according to the Joint Economic Committee of the Congress.

Pelosi said the House will continue to conduct its oversight of the president and will continue to pursue court cases to enforce the subpoena for testimony by former White House counsel Don McGahn and Trump’s tax records.

Yet Pelosi said that “we have no plans right now” to subpoena as a witness former national security adviser John Bolton, whose forthcoming book reportedly confirmed Trump withheld aid to Ukraine to coerce investigations into Democrat Joe Biden.

Some House Republicans have filed ethics complaints against or bills seeking censure of Pelosi for tearing up Trump’s speech at the end of the State of the Union address.

Pelosi in turn criticized Trump and Republicans for their behavior that night.

“We do not want the chamber of the House of Representatives to be used as a backdrop for one of his reality shows with unreality in his presentation,” Pelosi said. “And by the way, a serious breach to start chanting four more years on the floor of the House. Totally inappropriate.”