Fact checking Nancy Pelosi statements over the years

Almost since PolitiFact’s 2007 founding, it has been covering Representative Nancy Pelosi, who announced her retirement, effectual successful January 2027.

We archetypal fact-checked the erstwhile House talker connected August 25, 2008, erstwhile she characterised then-presidential campaigner Barack Obama arsenic a authorities legislator with a past of bipartisanship, a assertion we rated Half True. In all, we person rated Pelosi’s statements 56 times connected Truth-O-Meter, with a median standing of Half True.

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Political analysts see Pelosi, 85, 1 of the astir effectual legislative leaders successful caller US history. With tiny margins, Pelosi was mostly capable to support her caucus agreed down legislative goals connected healthcare, the situation and different issues.

Her quality to rise wealth for Democrats was 1 crushed she remained arsenic number person erstwhile she mislaid her speaker’s gavel aft the 2010 midterms and ascended again to talker successful 2018, erstwhile the Democrats won the majority. Pelosi mislaid the speakership erstwhile the GOP won the enclosure successful 2022. She near her enactment presumption but remained arsenic a rank-and-file member.

Pelosi was known for her effectiveness extracurricular the nationalist oculus – successful Capitol cloakrooms and backstage dinners. Republicans targeted her sometimes awkward rhetorical benignant successful beforehand of tv cameras, combined with her practice of 1 of the nation’s astir wide districts, successful San Francisco.

On the internet, Pelosi has been falsely accused of being drunk (many, galore times); of spending extravagantly connected her hair; of falling; of crying successful public; of being arrested; of palling astir with cause kingpin El Chapo; of calling Americans stupid; of being expelled from the House; of being divorced by her husband; of being arrested and disappeared by US marshals; of committing treason; and of being executed.

When a hammer-wielding intruder attacked her husband, Paul, successful their location successful 2022, conspiracy theories flourished, fanned by President Donald Trump and others, including that the full occurrence was a “false flag” event.

Here’s a rundown of memorable Pelosi moments successful caller fact-checking history.

Pelosi v Trump: Ripped speech, argumentation fights, January 6

Pelosi and Trump person a long-running rhetorical feud. When a newsman asked Trump astir Pelosi’s status announcement hours aft she made it, Trump called her “an evil woman”.

In 2018, Trump falsely said Pelosi “came retired successful favour of MS-13”, the transgression gang. Pelosi had criticised Trump for utilizing the word “animals” during an migration meeting, but she hadn’t said thing affirmative astir MS-13.

In 2020, aft Pelosi dramatically ripped up a insubstantial transcript of Trump’s State of the Union code from her spot down the president, Trump said: “I thought it was a unspeakable happening erstwhile she ripped up the speech. First of all, it’s an authoritative document. You’re not allowed. It’s amerciable what she did. She broke the law.”

We rated that False. Pelosi ripped up her ain duplicate transcript of Trump’s address, not the authoritative mentation sent to the National Archives nether the Presidential Records Act, truthful it would not person been amerciable to destruct it.

Pelosi earned a Mostly True for saying successful 2017 that Trump’s first-term taxation measure “would person chopped his taxes by $30 cardinal successful 2005”.

But she earned a False successful 2020 for saying Trump is “morbidly obese”. Trump had told reporters that helium was taking hydroxychloroquine to forestall COVID-19, an attack that mainstream doctors called dubious; she said it was not a dependable thought for idiosyncratic “in his, shall we say, value group”. Even if Trump was fudging his authoritative tallness and weight, helium would person needed to beryllium substantially heavier to conscionable a level of morbid obesity.

The pair’s astir bitter exchanges revolved astir January 6, 2021, the time Trump supporters stormed the Capitol arsenic Congress formally counted the 2020 electoral results. Rioters entered Pelosi’s bureau and called for her arsenic they marched done the Capitol.

Trump has repeatedly said helium requested “10,000 National Guardsmen” to supply information astatine his supporters’ January 6, 2021, rally, but that Pelosi “rejected it”. As aboriginal arsenic February 28, 2021, we rated that False. In consequent fact-checks, we recovered nary caller accusation to enactment Trump’s assertion astir Pelosi and National Guard troops.

Pelosi played a cardinal relation successful landmark healthcare legislation

One of her biggest argumentation legacies is the enactment of the Affordable Care Act successful 2010, which was Obama’s apical argumentation precedence successful 2009. The measure dominated the aboriginal governmental statement of his presidency, and Pelosi, arsenic speaker, had a cardinal relation successful securing Democratic enactment for Obama’s vision.

Pelosi accurately discussed immoderate argumentation differences betwixt Democratic and Republican healthcare bills, specified arsenic the Democratic proposals’ extortion for radical with a preexisting condition.

But we besides recovered information successful 1 Republican disapproval involving the measure – that Pelosi had said Democrats “have to walk their unspeakable healthcare measure truthful that the American radical tin really find retired what’s successful it”. That was adjacent to what Pelosi truly said, though that Republican Party of Texas’s synopsis ignored her comments astir wherefore the authorities made her proud.

Pelosi was a prima fundraiser, but we recovered 1 of her wealth claims misleading

Between 2000 and 2024, Pelosi raised $86.6m for her run committee and an further $51m for her enactment governmental enactment committee, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks run concern information.

Despite her fundraising prowess, she exaggerated successful 2017 erstwhile describing Wall Street wealth raised by Republicans and Democrats. She said: “Wall Street comes retired en masse with its wealth against House Democrats each election.” But she had cherry-picked 3 run cycles successful which Republicans held the House bulk portion ignoring predetermination cycles successful which the Democrats were successful control, including 2 successful which Pelosi was speaker. We rated the connection Mostly False.

Pelosi’s False statements

Pelosi’s 4 False ratings included:

• Her 2010 blog station saying that then-House Minority Leader John Boehner “admits ‘we are not going to beryllium immoderate antithetic than we’ve been'” by returning to “the aforesaid failed economical policies” that “wrecked our economy”. We recovered that Boehner had been talking specifically astir societal issues, not the economy, and that the video clip she shared removed that discourse from Boehner’s statement.
• Her determination successful 2011 to beforehand a illustration showing Obama had “increased the debt” by 16 percent, compared with his predecessor, President George W Bush, who had accrued it by 115 percent. The illustration included a large calculation error, ignored antithetic lengths of statesmanlike tenure and cherry-picked the astir favourable measure.
• Her 2016 assertion that until soon earlier her statement, China and Russia had “never voted with america astatine the UN connected immoderate sanctions connected Iran”. We recovered 8 Security Council resolutions implicit a decennary threatening, imposing oregon continuing sanctions against Iran successful which Russia and China approved.
• Her 2019 statement that a voter-roll purge successful Wisconsin would mean that much than 200,000 registered Wisconsin voters would beryllium prohibited from voting. We recovered that a purge could person perchance removed much than 200,000 radical from the voting rolls, but they would not beryllium “prohibited” from voting; anyone could re-register, including connected Election Day.

That 1 clip we fact-checked Pelosi successful existent time

We erstwhile fact-checked Pelosi successful person, connected television, successful existent time. And this time, it wasn’t connected policy.

In 2018, this newsman was president of the Washington Press Club Foundation, which mounts an yearly black-tie legislature dinner. Pelosi has been a predominant impermanent talker astatine the event, and that year, she began her remarks by thanking members of the caput table, including “President Louis Jacobson of FactCheck.org”.

I interrupted her. “Actually, PolitiFact.” As the assemblage laughed, Pelosi rapidly pivoted.

“That’s OK, staff,” she said. “It was Mostly True.”