Nancy Pelosi: Trump comes to race relations discussion with ‘unclean hands’ after Charlottesville response

“I would hope that he transitions from that and understands that he has a different responsibility than feeding red meat to his base,” Pelosi said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” “He has unclean hands when it comes to this discussion, too, because of what he did after Charlottesville.”

Pelosi made the remarks after being asked for her response to Trump’s outbursts against NBA player Stephen Curry and NFL players who kneel during the national anthem.

Pelosi — who represents San Francisco, the home of the Golden State Warriors and Colin Kaepernick’s former NFL club, the 49ers — said Trump should have seen the drama over the NBA team’s visit to the White House “as an opportunity” to “bring people together.”

“I think he was ill-advised, if he was advised at all, to go down this path,” Pelosi said. “I have always said sports and the arts will bring America together. It’s where we put our differences aside.”

Pelosi also pushed back on criticism from the Left over her and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s recent collaboration with the Trump administration on Hurricane Harvey relief and debt ceiling negotiations.

“It’s one issue at a time,” Pelosi said of her plans to work with the president. “As a leader, we have responsibility to try and find common ground, stand our ground where we can’t, but we have important challenges in our country that we have to address and, if we can find that path, I think we should do that.”

On immigration reform, Pelosi said she, Schumer and Trump agreed the basic bill would be the Dream Act, including a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.

“What was to be determined was if and what there would be in terms of border security,” she continued. “I trust him on it. I’m concerned about what he might come up in terms on border security and the rest of that, but we have said no wall.”