Nancy Pelosi blew up at a MAGA TV reporter who claimed she could be found responsible for the pro-Trump Jan. 6 riots.
Pelosi was confronted outside the Capitol on Wednesday by LindellTV reporter Alison Steinberg, who was pushing the ludicrous MAGA talking point that she was somehow to blame for riots spurred on by President Trump after he lost the 2020 election.
Steinberg repeatedly asked her if she was “concerned” that the new GOP-led committee reinvestigating the attack would find her “liable for that day.”
LindellTV is the online TV network of Trump ally and 2020 election denier Mike Lindell.
The 85-year-old California congresswoman was walking away from the reporter until she snapped when Steinberg asked, “Why did you refuse the National Guard on Jan. 6?”
BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi SNAPS at OUR Reporter – Points in Her Face and Hurls InsultsWhen our reporter pressed @SpeakerPelosi on why she refused National Guard support on January 6th, she lost it – pointing in her face, yelling “Shut up,” and accusing her of pushing “Republican… pic.twitter.com/nXxKJaq6Gz
— LindellTV (@RealLindellTV) October 15, 2025
Pelosi spun around and pointed her finger at the reporter, telling her to “Shut up!”
“I did not refuse the National Guard—the president didn’t send it. Why are you coming here with Republican talking points as if you’re a serious journalist?” she barked.
Republicans have sought to recast the narrative about the violent insurrection, particularly around the question of why it took more than four hours for the National Guard to arrive after a mob of Trump supporters overran Capitol police.
A previous House committee, largely led by Democrats, found in 2022 that President Donald Trump never gave an order to send the National Guard or any other federal support to the Capitol.
The committee’s report found that the Pentagon, which eventually sent in the Guard troops, was hampered by miscommunication and conflicting messages—in part because top commanders worried that Trump could weaponize the Guard in the wake of his loss in the 2020 election.
However, Republicans have tried to shift blame from Trump to Pelosi, who was serving as speaker at the time.
In June 2024, GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk—now the chair of the committee reinvestigating the Capitol attack—claimed Pelosi had admitted that “she was responsible for the security failures, and for not having the National Guard at the Capitol.”
He cited footage from Jan. 6 that was shot for an HBO documentary about Pelosi, in which she blasts Trump for firing up the mob but also suggests that she should have pushed Capitol Police to prepare better, saying, “I can’t believe the stupidity. I take full responsibility.”
In response to Republican efforts to blame Pelosi, a spokesperson for the congresswoman told The New York Times at the time, “Speaker Pelosi did not plan her own assassination on Jan. 6.”
While the speaker holds influence over the Capitol Police, the agency is controlled by a board that includes one security official appointed by the Speaker of the House and one by the Senate Majority Leader, which was GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell on Jan. 6.
During the riot, the pro-Trump mob fought its way into the Capitol, hunting for Pelosi and other lawmakers. More than 150 police officers were injured and five lost their lives in the days and weeks afterwards.
Alongside its clip of the contentious interaction, LindellTV wrote, “This is how the democratic so called Speaker of “the people” treats the press when they don’t fall in line. @SpeakerPelosi’s meltdown says everything,“ adding in bold, “What is she trying to hide?”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later reposted the clip on X, writing, “Woah! 😳”
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