House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi labeled President Trump a “rookie president” on Thursday as the White House and House Republicans struggled to corral support for the American Health Care Act ahead of a potential Thursday night vote.
Pelosi referred to Trump as a rookie three separate times. She called the decision to bring the bill up for a vote before winning support from the GOP caucus a “rookie error,” called him a “rookie president” and said that Thursday was “rookie day.”
“As bad as Trumpcare was, Republicans have been up all night long to make it worse. They’re scrambling to find a bill they can pass on the floor. I don’t know if you want to call this on Trump’s part a rookie’s error, but you don’t find a day and say we’re going to pass a bill,” Pelosi said. “You build a consensus in your caucus and when you’re ready you set the date to bring it to the floor. But so eager were they to, I don’t know, to be mean-spirited to say ‘we’re going to bring up this bill on the same day on the seventh anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.'”
“Rookie’s error, Donald Trump. Maybe a good negotiator — rookie’s error for bringing this up on a day we are clearly not ready,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi repeated the “rookie president” remark when asked if she had any idea what may happen Thursday night. She said that she “wouldn’t have the faintest idea” of where the GOP stands vote-wise.
“I’d be the last person to ask what goes on in their caucus,” Pelosi said. “From what I can hear about the rookie president is that he’s transactional, that he’s a negotiator. So what’s he promising? What is he granting or withholding? That’s now how we operate.”
“If this bill were to fail today, rookie day, I stand ready to negotiate with them on how we can go forward incorporating some of their ideas, saving face for them in some areas, but doing what is right for the American people,” she said. “This is a bad day for them. It’s bad if they win, it’s bad if they lose because of what destruction they will wreak in the lives of the American people, and the American people know it.”
Throughout the press conference, Pelosi spoke out in support of the Affordable Care Act on the seventh anniversary of when it was signed into law. She called it “overwhelmingly successful.”
With only hours to go before the planned vote, Trump was continuing to push for support among more conservative GOP lawmakers. He was set to meet with the House Freedom Caucus on Thursday.
