House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday that Donald Trump followed the lead of conservative Republicans by calling into question President Obama’s birthplace a few years ago, and that even though Trump now thinks Obama was born in the U.S., the “damage is done.”
“This issue, whether it’s put to rest or not, the damage is done as far as his evoking a response from a certain element in our country,” Pelosi said during a Friday CNN interview.
When asked if the GOP is following Trump’s lead, she said, “No, I think he’s following theirs.”
She said Republicans for the last few years have made “worse statements” about issues related to immigration that they have tried to implement into law, which shows that those sentiments were there in the Republican Party before Trump arrived.
“He’s a reflection of them which is why I think that some of the establishment Republicans are unhappy with Trump for what he says, but also, he’s pulled back the veil,” she said.
