Nancy Pelosi

Following the June 2024 presidential debate, Pelosi publicly left open the question of whether Joe Biden should continue his candidacy and, according to several press accounts, played an important private role in conveying Democratic legislators' concerns and urging the President to reassess his campaign. Biden ultimately withdrew from the race on 21 July.

Attribution

Political responsibility

Nancy Pelosi's financial disclosures revealed substantial stock transactions by her husband Paul Pelosi in technology companies while Congress was examining policies potentially affecting some of those sectors. Online interest in the couple's trades and calls to ban members of Congress from trading increased sharply.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Spouse

Paul Pelosi sold Nvidia shares at a loss shortly before a House vote on legislation providing tens of billions of dollars in support for the US semiconductor industry. The timing of the transaction revived political suspicions surrounding trading by legislators' families.

State of the evidence

Documented

Pelosi travelled to Taiwan in August 2022, becoming the highest-ranking US official to visit the island in a quarter of a century. Beijing denounced the visit as a major provocation and launched extensive military exercises around Taiwan.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

At the end of Donald Trump's State of the Union address in February 2020, Pelosi conspicuously tore up her copy of the speech in front of the cameras. The gesture became one of the most powerful visual symbols of the institutional confrontation between the Speaker and the President.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Pelosi was filmed in a San Francisco hair salon while local rules still severely restricted indoor services. The footage, which briefly showed her without a mask during the appointment, prompted accusations of hypocrisy from Republican officials.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Pelosi publicly played down the electoral influence of the four progressive representatives known as "The Squad" and criticised their use of social media, triggering a confrontation with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her allies. Ocasio-Cortez denounced repeated targeting of newly elected women from minority backgrounds.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Pelosi described certain bonuses and wage increases announced by companies following the 2017 Republican tax reform as "crumbs", arguing that they were insignificant compared with the tax benefits granted to corporations and wealthier individuals. Republicans widely used the remark to portray her as out of touch with workers.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Regarding the Affordable Care Act, Pelosi said that the legislation needed to be passed so that the public could discover what it contained "away from the fog of the controversy". The shortened phrase — "pass the bill so you can find out what is in it" — became an enduring symbol of criticism of the way the reform was enacted.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

During the 2009 debate over torture and waterboarding, Pelosi maintained that she had not been told in 2002 that the CIA was already using waterboarding, although briefing records indicated that she had received information about enhanced interrogation techniques. Her various public statements were criticised as contradictory.

State of the evidence

Disputed

Attribution

Command responsibility

During an official visit to Beijing, Nancy Pelosi and two other US representatives displayed a banner and laid flowers in Tiananmen Square in tribute to protesters who died in 1989. Chinese police interrupted the action and authorities accused the legislators of violating Chinese law.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility