House Speaker Pelosi to CNN: Trump Is 'Diverter-Of-Attention-In-Chief...I'm Done With Him'

Calling President Donald Trump, “the diverter-of-attention-in-chief,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told CNN, “I’m done with him,” but she stopped short of saying whether she told Democrats behind closed doors that she’d like to see Trump “in prison.”

Pelosi told CNN’s Manu Raju Tuesday she doesn’t even want to talk about the president, adding “My stock goes up every time he attacks me, so what can I say?” She made the comment from the Fiscal Summit at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Tensions between the president and Speaker of the House escalated last week, after reports Pelosi told Democrats in a closed door session she wants to see the president in prison. Asked by Raju if she made the comment, Pelosi said, “When we have conversations in our caucus they stay in our caucus. Do people think there’s some impeachable offenses that the President committed? Yes. How serious are they? Are they criminal? Many people think they are.”

Trump was on a five-day state visit to Great Britain and France to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Allied D-Day invasion at Normandy when he heard about the “prison” comment last Thursday. In an interview with Fox News, he called Pelosi a “nasty, vindictive, horrible person.” The interview took place at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

In stark contrast, when Pelosi was interviewed at the same location, she said she deliberately did not attack the president.

“The first rule of our (congressional delegation) is we never criticize a president of the United States when we are overseas,” she said. “We have plenty of time to do that when we’re back home.”

At the same time, Pelosi said an impeachment inquiry is not off the table but she has steadfastly stood against increasing calls to launch such an inquiry. Only about 60 House members have publicly said they support impeachment, including one Republican, Justin Amash of Michigan. The chamber has 435 members, so at present just over 10% of congressional members are on record in favor of an impeachment inquiry.

Although, later in the interview, Pelosi said, “I think the Mueller report very clearly spells out at least 10 or 11 instances of obstruction of justice, but I’m not here to have that discussion.”

Raju then asked Pelosi if she believes Trump has committed crimes, doesn’t she have an obligation to pursue impeachment?

“My obligation is to do whatever we do in the most effective way possible,” she said.