No kidding.
Via LA Times:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who has served for three decades on Capitol Hill, said she had not seen or experienced the kind of behavior that sparked the vast #MeToo campaign for victims of sexual harassment and assault.
The San Francisco Democrat made the comments during a wide-ranging interview at a Los Angeles Times and Berggruen Institute event in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday.
More than 140 women in California’s Capitol — including legislators, Capitol staff, political consultants, lobbyists and the congresswoman’s own daughter Christine Pelosi — signed a letter on Tuesday calling out a “pervasive” culture of sexual harassment and mistreatment there.
“I don’t have that experience in Washington, D.C. I just don’t,” Pelosi said when asked if the nation’s Capitol had the same problem. “I have not seen that.”
She said that there should be “zero tolerance” when it comes to disrespect for women and thanked those who have shared their stories..
“Your courage gives comfort to other women,” she said.
The discussion also touched on Pelosi’s future in the party’s leadership, the division within the Democratic Party and the Democratic showdown between state Senate leader Kevin de León and veteran U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Pelosi, who beat back a challenge by Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan to win another term as minority leader last December, is looking to lead her party out of the wilderness in the 2018 midterm elections.
Meanwhile, the party’s more liberal base is growing increasingly bold and testing its strength. Progressive activism fueled a nearly successful effort by progressive Kimberly Ellis to lead the state party, as well as the acrimonious push for a single-payer healthcare bill in Sacramento this year.
On Wednesday, Pelosi pushed back on the idea that the party is not united.
“It has its diversity, and that is what its beauty is, but these are not big differences within the party,” she said.
HT: TAH