Pelosi says she struck up friendship with President George HW Bush in late 1980s
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Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi highlighted her warm and longstanding relationship with the Bush family in an interview with MSNBC's Jen Psaki.
"We were friends. He was such a lovely man," Pelosi told Psaki of her friendship with President George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018.
Pelosi joined MSNBC's "Inside with Jen Psaki" where the former speaker discussed the upcoming election, President Biden dropping out of the race, her new book, "The Art of Power," as well as her decades-long friendship with the Bush family.
"You also speak glowingly – I kind of love this part of the book – about the Bush family, specifically George H.W. Bush. Your family goes way back. But you even have some nice things to say about his son, George W. Bush, which might surprise people who read the book because you were a strong opponent of the Iraq War," Psaki asked Pelosi in an interview that aired Sunday.
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First lady Barbara Bush and President George H.W. Bush are shown during the National Medal of Arts ceremony at the White House on Nov. 19, 1989. (Ron Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)
Pelosi said she first formed a relationship with George H.W. Bush in the late 1980s as the two sparred over policies in China after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
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"I went in there [Congress], started fighting against our policy on China right after Tiananmen Square. I came in ‘87, that happened in ’89. So, I had a disagreement with President George Herbert Walker Bush on that. But we kind of – it was a difference of opinion. It wasn't an animosity. It was just policy, it wasn't personal," Pelosi explained.
Nancy Pelosi in 2021 (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File)
A friendship soon bloomed between the two before H.W.'s son, George W. Bush, was sworn in as president in 2001. Pelosi also struck up a friendly relationship with the 43rd president despite the pair's political differences, she said in the interview.
"When President George W. Bush was being sworn in, I, as is the custom, go to the … the White House to escort him to the Capitol. And he said, ‘My father and mother will be here.’ And I said, 'Well, I can't wait to see him. He's a sweetheart.' And he said, ‘Why does everybody say that about him and not about me?’" Pelosi said while smiling about the encounter.
She also recounted in the interview that during President George W. Bush's administration, Pelosi joined a Christmas gathering at the White House where H.W. Bush came up to her and chit-chatted about family, before he quipped, "Madam Speaker, give my kid a break."
"Such a great story," Psaki responded while laughing about the exchange. "I mean, every parent can relate to that."
Pelosi released her book, "The Art of Power," this month, which repeatedly cites the Bush family and her "warm relationship" with H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush.
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Former President George W. Bush is shown with House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi at an arrival service for former President George H.W. Bush as his body lies in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Dec. 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)
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Pelosi's interview comes after the 2024 presidential election took a turn last month, when Biden dropped out of the race after mounting concerns over his mental acuity. Amid the speculation that Biden would drop out, the Associated Press reported that leaders within the Democratic Party, such as former President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pelosi, were reportedly working in the background to encourage Biden to drop out due to concerns he could not defeat former President Trump.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talks with President Biden in the East Room of the White House on June 13, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Pelosi has denied speculation that she helped lead a coup to pressure Biden to exit the race, but she revealed this month that she has not spoken to Biden since he dropped out of the race.
"Is everything OK with your relationship?" CNN's Dana Bash asked Pelosi during an interview this month.
"You’d have to ask him," Pelosi answered. "But I hope so."
Psaki pressed Pelosi in her interview that aired Sunday whether there is a "way back for your friendship?"
"In our family, we have three generations of love for Joe Biden. My husband and I, of course, we've known him for a very long time – respect him, love him and Jill. He and Jill are so remarkable and their family. Our kids have always loved them. I had pictures with him from our children growing up and now our grandchildren growing up," Pelosi responded.
"But the most important thing we have to do is to win the election, just to sustain his legacy, and to have the legacy be to do even more in the presidency and the vice presidency of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz," Pelosi continued.
