Nancy Pelosi says the Constitution sees her as equal to President Trump.
After being asked if she considers herself Trump’s equal, Pelosi told the New York Times in an interview published Thursday that, “The Constitution does.”
It wasn’t clear if Pelosi was talking about the equality of men and women, or their respective political positions in the federal government. Pelosi, D-Calif., was elected speaker for the second time on Thursday when the 116th Congress convened and Democrats took back control of the House.
In taking back the gavel, Pelosi is now the second in line to the presidency, after Vice President Mike Pence, if Trump were unable to perform his duties as commander in chief.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are the three others that fall behind Pelosi in line to the presidency.
In her interview with the Times, Pelosi also said she was hoping women would have more of a voice in the new Congress now that a woman was back in the speakership seat.
She recounted a time when there was a dinner at the White House last year and men continuously talked over her. “Doesn’t anybody listen to a woman in the room?” Pelosi asked at the time.
“Hopefully that will become a thing of the past now that we have so many women in Congress — and with the gavel,” Pelosi said. “The gavel makes a big difference.”
Democrats now hold a 235-199 majority in the House, and Republicans widened their majority in the Senate with 53-47. The 116th Congress is the first divided Congress since 2015 when former President Barack Obama was still in office.
