Fox News Host Hits Pelosi for Hypocrisy: 'She Didn't Want Us To See That'
Fox News “Outnumbered” co-host Harris Faulkner called out House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for seeking to keep private Tuesday’s Oval Office negotiations over the border wall with President Donald Trump, yet telling reporters soon thereafter the new Congress she will lead will be one known for “transparency.”
Pelosi chided Trump, saying discussions regarding funding the wall should happen behind closed doors “in a careful way.”
“So I don’t think we should have a debate in front of the press on this,” she said. “But the fact is, the House Republicans could bring up this bill, if they had the votes, immediately, and set the tone for what you want.”
Following a back-and-forth between Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Pelosi said, “We came in here in good faith, and we are entering into this kind of a discussion in the public view.”
Trump countered that it’s “not bad” to have the interchange in front of reporters. “It’s called transparency.”
“I know,” Pelosi replied. “But it’s not transparency when we’re not stipulating to a set of facts.”
“We need border security,” Trump offered as a fact, one to which the minority leader eventually conceded, “We agree with that.”
Following the meeting, Pelosi met with reporters in front of the White House, and she dismissed the notion that having a debate with Trump in front of reporters was being transparent, while also taking a shot at Fox News.
“I hear some of the reporters saying, well Fox reporters saying, we don’t want transparency in the discussion,” Pelosi said.
“This new Congress will be something different from the Congress we have right now,” she pledged. “It will be a Congress of transparency. So the American people can see.”
The Democratic lawmaker was likely referring to FNC’s “Outnumbered,” which was on the air shortly after the Oval Office exchange.
During the program, Fox News contributor and former congressman Jason Chaffetz said he was “not buying” Pelosi’s line about transparency in light of her call for reporters to leave the room.
Faulkner agreed, saying Pelosi “didn’t want us to see that (debate). She didn’t want the public to be able to see that.”
The host then quoted the Democratic leader claiming to want a “Congress of transparency.”
“Apparently it can’t be a meeting called by the President of the United States — transparent,” said Faulkner. “Because why? Because she’s in it? Because she doesn’t want us to see them going back and forth?”
Former Obama administration State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf answered: “No, Harris. Because the real negotiating on substance does not happen with twenty TV cameras there.”
“You haven’t actually sat in that seat,” Faulkner fired back.
“Well, I have been in the Oval Office,” Harf said.
“Not president, not leadership of either party, that’s the point,” Faulkner interjected.
Prior to becoming Speaker in 2007, Pelosi had also promised a transparent House of Representatives. However, she also infamously said regarding her signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, “We have to pass the bill, so you can find out what is in it.”
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