House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lashed out at Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy over his questioning of her silence about protesters’ toppling of a San Francisco statue.
The Republican House leader said Wednesday his California colleague should condemn the protesters who knocked down the Golden Gate Park statue of St. Junipero Serra, in Pelosi’s district.
“Given that today is the Feast Day of Saint Junipero Serra, her condemnation of mob violence would be especially timely,” McCarthy said in a statement. “Today should be a day for celebration. Instead, we’ve recently seen a violent leftwing mob tear down the statue of St. Serra in Speaker Pelosi’s district in San Francisco, California.”
Pelosi dismissed McCarthy’s accusations as political posturing.
“I’m trying to save the world from coronavirus,” Pelosi told the Washington Examiner. “I have no interest in about McCarthy, who hasn’t had the faintest idea of our dynamic in our district.”
Canonized by Pope Francis in 2015, Serra was an 18th century Franciscan priest who founded missions in California. His statue was pulled down on June 19 by protesters who view him as a colonizer against Native Americans. Other San Francisco statues that were toppled were those of President Ulysses S. Grant, the leading Union Civil War general, and Francis Scott Key, composer of the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Pelosi did say of the statue tear-down controversy, “I think we should all review the statues and make decisions. I do agree they should come down more carefully.”
[Related: Republicans see Left alienating nation by toppling Roosevelt and Grant memorials]
