House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was peppered with questions about a potential Donald Trump presidency while leading a congressional delegation in Mexico City.
At one point, Pelosi told reporters, “That’s the last thing we are going to say about Donald Trump.”
Among the questions that followed a meeting between U.S. and Mexican lawmakers: “Was there any discussion to reverse the Trump effect?”
Trump has called for ending illegal immigration along the southern border by building a wall and forcing Mexico to cover the cost.
Pelosi was also asked whether “Donald Trump’s rhetoric has damaged the relations between Mexico and the United States.”
Pelosi answered “no” and Rep. Ruben Gallego, R-Ariz., added, in Spanish, “Donald Trump does not have the power to break the relations the United States has had with Mexico for over 100 years. It is a problem and what we want to say as Congress members and leaders of our communities is that our relations with Mexico will continue to be successful. We need to work more so that we can continue our shared relations.”
Pelosi told reporters that in meetings with Mexican lawmakers, the U.S. presidential election “did come up” and members of the congressional delegation assured them, “This election will come and go, and so will Donald Trump.”
One reporter asked how lawmakers can “overcome the rhetoric that is not just Donald Trump’s” but is used by “the other side,” in Congress.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., suggested it nothing more than campaign rhetoric.
“Candidates try their best to grab the media’s attention to one up each other,” Sanchez said.
Pelosi is leading a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mexico, Peru and Chile that according to aides, is focused on “security, trade, migration and human rights.”
