reengage. otherwise he's out. >> michael steele said it. donald trump burned cocaine mitch. i also want to thank our cab watching d.c. tonight from russell. thank you so much. russell we really appreciate it. that is it for us tonight on "kasie dc." for now, good night from washington. "kasie dc. for now, good night from washington presentation. >> she grew up in baltimore from a family steeped in politics. and rose to become the first woman speaker of the house. now heshe's making history agai. only this time nancy pelosi is starting her term in the middle of a republican shutdown, facing the republican led senate and donald trump in the white house. tonight just one day after reclaiming the gavel, nancy pelosi visits her alma mat tore make her case. this is an exclusive town hall with the speaker from trinity

washington university in washington d.c. here now is joy reid. welcome to o'connor auditorium in trinity washington university for a very special hour. as you know there is a new congress in town. the 116th. and a new speaker. in her second term with the gavel. in the midst of yet another government shut out down. we've got a lot to get to. so let's jump right in and bring out a proud trinity washington tiger from the class of 1962. please welcome the newly reelected speaker of the house nancy pelosi. [cheers and applause]. madam speaker.

that's quite a welcome. you're kind of a big deal. well congratulations. i first want to congratulate you. i watched your swearing in yesterday. quite a historic moment. and of course to sort of mark that momentum we've got a few people that you might know. some alum. some of your former classmates are here behind me. that have come here to celebrate you. friends and family and fellow students. i'm going to jump right in, because obviously the context of this conversation is that the government remains shut down. yesterday the house jumped right in working. and passed six bills to reopen the government. but tell us, give us the preview how this is going to end. because you have made it very clear the congress of the united states is not going appropriate money to build a wall. mexico, who donald trump, the president, has said would pay for the wall has made it clear they are not going pay for the wall. donald trump is still insisting on $5.5 billion.

how does this end? >> first of all let my say how happy i am to be at trinity college. president maguire thank you for your hospitality and your leadership. recognized national as a great academic leader in our country. thank you for bringing secretary sablia. my grandson and his dad peter. and any event we come into this congress at a really very interesting time. it is really hard to imagine many more times in history that have been more challenging in terms of, shall we say, the differences of opinion and values that are out there. we come in to a congress, as you mentioned, joy, that where the government is shut down. and you mentioned the wall. the wall and the government shut down really have nothing to do with each other. we passed bills yesterday. a package of six bills.

i think it is important for the public to know what we passed yesterday is exactly what was passed by the republican senate. >> sure. >> we gave them. we said take yes for an answer. we're taking your language to open up government. separating out the subject of homeland security. we all believe in border security. how we do that is how we have to -- is our debate. but there is no reason to have public pay a price in services, the workers pay a price in paycheck, and our economy pay a price in what is happening. because people are not confident. so this is a totally irresponsible thing to say we're connecting the shut down to the wall. >> but mitch mcconnell. your counterpart in the senate has made it clear even though these were senate bills that were passed by republicans that

he won't put them back on the floor unless the president approves of them. how do you get around this conundrum if the other half of the first branch of government will only act at the behest of the president? >> well i think that what mitch mcconnell is doing, and i say this as respectfully as possible, is saying we're not needed. congress might as well stay home. all we need is one person to show up. donald trump. and that's not what our founders had in mind. they talked about co-equal branchs of government. article 1. t legislative branch. the peoples branch of government. the president can sign or not but he should never say i'm not even going to put it on the president's desk. what he signed. we could have sent a bill of our own making. but we said we'll send exactly what the senate passed with over 90 votes on the floor of the

senate or unanimously in committee. we sent that exactly. and then for our separate bill on homeland security. we took their language exactly. the continual resolution would last until february 8th. take yes for an answer. don't say congress is irrelevant. that's what he's saying. >> i realize you have been back in the speakership for one day. all of one day. but have you spoken with senator mcconnell? because a lot of the public i think is frustrated by the fact that congress used to do a thing called "send a bill to the president to veto" if he so chooses. have you spoken to senator mcconnell about doing that? that he could do so if he wishes to do so. >> the congress of the united states says. if congress, if both houses pass a bill and send it to the president and the president doesn't want to sign it and it sit there is for 10 days not counting sunday it becomes the law. so the president doesn't even

have to sign. >> let's talk about the bigger picture because obviously this is a bigger issue. donald trump ran for president on the issue fundally of. >> let's not talk about donald trump. let's talk about the future. >> no we want to talk about the future. >> come on. it is early in the morning. know i guess not. it is late at night. >> no i think that the reason -- and it is not only about him. i think it is the fundamental question of who is an american. and now the democrats have a chance the weigh in on that. as the question fundamentally of how our immigration system helps to shape who we are and our values. talk about what the house, what the democratic house now plans do about that. because there is still the need for comprehensive immigration reform. >> absolutely. >> what would be in a bill that could come to the floor that you could see passing the house? >> let me just quote randonald reagan. ronald reagan in his last speech as president of the united states. now that is a headliner.

ronald reagan, the great communicator. in his last speech. he said in my last speech as president i want to communicate a message to the people of the country i love. and he talked about -- you have to read the speech all of you. look it up. he talked about. he said the vital force of america is preeminence ntin the world is every new generation of immigrants coming to america. and when america fails to recognize that, america will fail to be preeminent in the world. i quoted ronald reagan in my comment yesterday. he further says, if we close the door to new people coming, we will fail to be preeminent. off the read that speech. that is ronald reagan. their hero. they didn't applaud for reagan when i said that. they usually applaud for ronald reagan all the time. but the fact is we are, unless if you are blessed to be a

native american, a nation of immigrants. and new every generation of immigrants is a revitalization of america. making america more america. >> one of the fundamentals, one fundamental thing that must be in a bill? is it dhaka. ending child separations? what is the fundamental thing that must be in a bill from your point of view. >> well from the -- the best way we could go and hope the president will agree to is comprehensive immigration reform. where we address the whole package of reforms. we have always said all of us together will go. except the dhaka situation, the dreamers said became such an urgent matter and still is that we separated that out so that would be a part of it. but if you have comprehensive immigration reform. where people come forward. people are not going to come

forward if they are arrested and then deported. so they come forward, they are recognized for the they owe taxes or whatever it is. usually it isn't the case but nonetheless whatever that would be. to have legalization process for the 11 million people who are in the united states. and recognizing that that brings them out of the shadow and into our economy. in a fuller way. so from a pragmatic standpoint it helps, it is a positive thing. >> yeah. >> in terms of dreamers, obviously that is an easy fix for us to -- president obama did that by executive order which is president cooly pulled back. but hopefully in a short period of time question correct that. >> right. okay. >> it would have to have things to protect temporary protective status, which is very important for central american, for some people from africa, south of sahara. people from the caribbean and the rest temporary protective

status. but it would have to be something that says we want people who are here to be full participants in america. and that we're not raiding job sites and this and that and instilling fear. and it is -- we've been through this. secure our borders. legalize the people who are here so they can participate fully. do so in a way that energizes america, which is always been the case with newcomers coming in. >> absolutely. >> and i emphasize that secure our borders because that is a responsibility to protect and defend our country. the president would not -- the inference that you draw from the wall is that is the only way to do that. that actually is an immorality. it builds walls in people's minds about who should come here and the rest. it is a very sad thing that he's doing to instill that kind of fear to our country. so very different from ronald

reagan. george herbert walker bush. bill clinton. george w. bush, barack obama. all the modern presidents. this is a departure. >> as this is a town hall. i want to get a student's question in. our first student is michelle vazquez. and michelle is a freshman political science major here at trinity. michelle, ask your question? >> ms. pelosi i would first like to congratulate you on your successful reelection as speaker of the house. i want to start by mentioning on christmas eve a boy from guatemala passed away due to intenantive care under u.s. custody. what can we do if anything to improve u.s. supervision of migrants and establish safer detention center facilities. >> to clarify there were two children. jackly cow age seven who died on december 8th. and another.

not only two children in one month but i believe in the last decade that is the most deaths. >> there have been other --. tragic and raise the question that michelle asked. one of the things that is really important for us to do is to make sure first of all we want to have more respect for the people coming in. but that is -- just to be talking about having standards for medical care. jaqueline did not have any attention paid to her in proper medical way before boarding that bus. so we have in our group someone, a doctor and he and others have been suggesting for a while now that there be personnel there assigned that can make

adjustments about medical decisions about these people. young people or not. but that these happen to be young makes it all the more tragic. but shameful that we don't have that. there were certain protocols that were not followed. the inspector general will be investigating, at least jaqueline's case and philippe's probably. but before felipe died we understood that the inspector general had been making investigation about what they didn't do, what needs to be done. but we know for sure, know for sure that they are lacking in the trained medical professionals to be there. to make judgment. so we have to be more, shall we say, responsible when it comes to children and when there are children coming over the bodder. not putting them in cages, separating them from their parents. how could this be in america? >> and you emphasized that point

about concern for children and even bringing the children into the gallery yesterday when you accepted the speakership. and coming up more with speaker pelosi. speaker pelosi will tell us what's on the democratic agenda for the house and investigations and the other i word, impeachment. what should donald trump expect if house democrats in 2019? more from our exclusive town hall for the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi from trinity washington university. coming up. from trinity washington university. coming up. than anyone else in the world. on average, we'll live in eleven homes. and every time we move, things change. apartments become houses, cars become mini vans. as we upgrade and downsize, an allstate agent will do the same for our protection. now that you know the truth, are you in good hands? our because of smoking.ital. but we still had to have a cigarette.

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i'd probably have a generational reaction to it. but the any event, i'm not not sensorship business. i don't think -- i mean i don't like that language. i wouldn't use a language i don't establish any language for my colleagues but i don't think it is anything worse than what the president has said. >> that kind of discussion of impoousmt on that level, help the cause of oversight in general or make impeachment more likely? less likely. does it impact the actual trangtry of oversight? >> i think it probably consolidates his base.jectory o? >> i think it probably consolidates his base. but i don't think it needs much consolidation. i don't think it makes much different. >> the way the president's base

will react to idea of an incoming democratic caucus coming in with the idea already pree to indicate you are going to get them. >> that is not the equity to be weighed is that is freedom of speech of an individual member. as i say generationally that would not be language i would use. but nonetheless i don't think we should make a big deal of it. i really don't. that is probably the way people talk around. again, i'm a grandmother. and as a different story. but it is it is really -- words have -- weigh a ton. and the president has to realize that his words way weigh a ton too. and some of words that he use has a direct impact on people's lives. my colleagues comments do not have an impact on people's lives. >> let me ask you this. >> sure.

>> if she were a man would they be -- >> you know what, on that point, what do you make of the way that women's words, women's actions are parsed by us, by the public versus men's? >> well i think that women have to have each other's backs. in other words it is not a zero sum game. one woman's success is really a success for all women. and it is not as if if you have this then i'm deprived of that. so i think we all have to kind of stick together on all of this. because there are just behavioral patterns that are in spite of themselves, some people, some men just can't get over it. but we can't be held up by that. my goodness, i'm such a target for all of it. in every possible way. i thrive on it. that is my answer to them. i thrive on it. >> so then i'll ask you a

question. if was a man do you think he would make a big deal of it? >> probably less of a deal. probably less of a deal. but i don't know why we're making a big deal of it now. it is the way people talk. i think frankly that what she said was less offensive than what president trump said about john mccain. >> what do you make of the fact that you do have some members of your freshman class and not even just freshman who believe that it is time now to impeach the president? >> well the members of our caucus have thought for a while, almost two years, that that it was case. i do think that as i said before we want to be unifying. e pluribus unum. bring people together. impooes impeachment is a very divisive

approach to take and we shouldn't take it for anything other than the facts and the law. and we'll see what happens with the muller report. >> already even before it is completed the probe has resulted in charges against 33 people. guilty pleas by five people with direct ties to the president of the united states. >> seven. >> seven total. five directly tide to him. what would you need to is see in addition to that in order for you to feel that you have reached the threshold where it is time to begin impeachment hearings? >> let me just say first of all because you used the word oversight and investigations and they are not really interchangeable. congress has a constitutional responsibility to have oversight over the executive branch. we are the power of the purse. we appropriate the funds. and we have to have oversight as to whether they are being used effectively. so that is our responsibility.

we would be delinquent if we didn't do that. when does that go to the place where an investigation is required? well you are see agriculture of croneyism, corruption and incompetence in this administration where people are dropping off like flies in terms of their own exposure at the matters. and so what their involves the air that our children breathe. the water they drink and what is the personal aggrandizement of that secretary to the special interest, the polluters. that is an investigation. that is not regular oversight. so could ratchet up to that. in terms of impeachment we'd have to see different evidence. >> i think what congressman talib is looking at and a lot of people. is you have had the former campaign manager. the campaign manager of the president of the united states is already under investigation for committing crimes.

his former national security advisor is already pleading guilty. and i guess what a lot of the freshman and what would you say to congressman talib who is saying there's already been enough evidence here that at least the hearings should begin. what do you say to member whose say that. >> well we have three great leaders of the committees of the jurisdiction. elijah cummings of maryland chair of the committee on government report. the investigative committee of congress. the oversight committee of congress. i used to serve on that. we have jared natter the chair of judiciary committee and adam schiff the chair of the intelligence committee and will be reviewing with oversight and possible investigation what happens next. but the -- i think that the outrage that people feel about impeachment is legitimate. i also think that people should be very concerned about what this president is doing to the food our children eat, the air they breathe, the water they

drink. this whole russia investigation is very important and we have a responsibility to follow the fact where is they take but not to have it be -- all due respect to the press. the press spends a lot of time on it. every single day by executive order this president is saying we're going to -- despite the fact that i signed a bill about nutrition and food stamps and the rest, i'm by executive order going to take those food stamps away. you know he's doing really harmful things that affect people in every day life, and all the focus is on what might happen and let's see when that happens. >> but i think for a lot of people though having acquired the office, if there were crimes committed in the acquisition of the office of president, i think for a lot of people that's so foundational. that you do have a lot of members who believe that the inquiry is necessary. that seeing the president's tax returns, for instance. >> of course. >> do you believe that that

should happen. >> well we should havene the president's tax returns. i had a speech the other kay speaking at an event for hidden heros. initiative for care givers. and as i was walking throughs i usually do through the kitchen to get to the podium, one of the busboys said to me, when the president says to you that the muller investigation is going on too long, just remind him not as long as his audit of his tax returns. >> what do you make of donald trump's relationship with vladimir putin? >> i think that the president's relationship with thugs all over the world is a --. vladimir putin? really? i think it is dangerous. but, you know, i think one of the most frightening, with stiff competition mind you of things that this president has done is the firing of mattis. now mattis resigned. the president likes to say he

fired him. but the fact is mattis isn't there. >> at the risk of -- >> and the president still is. >> at the risk of circling back. firing jim comey. the fbi director for a lot of people is obstruction of justice. that was one of the articles of impeachment used against a prior president. >> it could be. >> do you believe that is obstruction of justice, firing the fbi director? >> let me take to it a larger place. when they impeached president clinton it was completely wrong. they should not have done. that. it was wrong. it was divisive in the country. it was wrong. in terms of richard nixon, there was no impeachment. the republicans stepped up to the plate and visited the president and said we can't go on. what's shameful right now is not just the president's behavior in so many respects and his lack of interest in evidence, data, facts or truth when it comes to

making a decision. what's shocking is that the republicans and the congress of the united states will not hold him accountable for anything. >> we'll continue this conversation next. ersation next. great news, liberty mutual customizes- uh uh - i deliver the news around here. ♪ sources say liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. over to you, logo. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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all right. welcome back to trinity washington university. madam speaker. i want to take a little bit of a break for a moment before we get back to the hard news stuff. i want to show you picture. that's young lady. >> -- kennedy was running for president, i was like 16 in that picture. my father was mayor of baltimore. and president, senator kennedy, candidate for president came to speak at the united nations dinner. and my mother would normally accompanying my father and she knew i wanted to meet president -- senator kennedy so she enabled me to come and i sat next to him at dinner in the first lady's seat. and it was a funny thing. funny because i was a member of what we called united nations high school -- >> sure -- . >> -- at the so i'm so the high school kids had a table there and they calm to me and said we'd like to invite you to come

sit with us instead and. i said oh i could never leave this seat. >> nancy, you were a baltimore girl. your dad and brother were mayors of baltimore. you are so much associated with the san francisco. what parts of you are baltimore? what parts of you are san francisco? >> well first of all i got, we grew up in a family devoutly catholic. very proud of our italian american heritage. fiercely patriotic about america. and in our case staunchly democratic. but i always say is that the pride we took in our own heritage enabled me when i was went to san francisco to respect

the pride of such incredibly diverse population. everybody is there and every division within every category of people is there. so i think our own ethnic pride is a source of respect for other people. and so what it was is about respect. that public service is a noble calling. that as i said in my remarks yesterday, that we should serve with our hearts full of love. and america is a country who's heart is full of love. and when people ask where is hope you say it is sitting where it always has been, between faith and the goodness, the love of others. that something will happen. >> let me try to get the -- try to speak you in here. a political science major from

upper marlboro maryland. >> what kind of challenges do you face holding one of the highest elected positions as a woman? and how do you handle them? >> thank you for your question. >> feel free to include dealing with the man explaining and people interrupting you. i just interrupted you but men interrupting you when you are trying to do your job. >> let me just say this. you can't let that stand in your way. i just say to young women especially or women newly emerging into the public sector as i went from the kitchen to the congress from housewife to house speaker. whatever the path is. rather right out of college or whatever. know your power. just know your why. why are you interested in public service? or whatever it is, the academic world, military, corporate america whatever it is. know your why. know your subject. know why you are doing it. know what it is. know about it so that you can speak with authority on it. have a plan. be strategic.

and communicate. if you show your vision, your knowledge, your plan, you will be able to attract that connection is so important. so have your own confidence. don't worry about their hang ups. just don't worry about their hang ups. >> okay. now we've got some heavy targets to get to in this town hall. but i wanted to do a quick lightning round before break. so give me short answer. very quick answer. okay. you got 20 minutes at the end of the day. what do you do? 20 minutes to yourself. >> i -- i -- well it is a little bit personal. >> just us in the room. >> my relaxation at the end of the day to soak in the tub, eat chocolate candy and do the cross-word puzzle. >> in the alternate universe when not the speaker of the house. what is your dream job? >> grandmother, as the my dream

job. >> and the next one, what is the one thing you can't live without? >> well, my family of course. >> good answer. excellent answer. >> i did used to say to my husband when we were dating, i don't think you -- i don't know if i could give up chocolate for anybody. but anybody who loved me would never ask me to give up chocolate. >> fair. i think that makes absolutely perfect sense. more with speaker pelosi after this. .8 nse. more with speaker pelosi after this .8 holy smokes! hey kurt, are you watching the best of geico ? i sure am, linda. they've been saving folks money for years. and now they're re-airing some of their all-time greatest hits. with classics like... hump day. caveman airport. and even... celebrating squirrels. this crudité is great, but those geico ads are even better. but that's not all. vote today and you can enter for a chance to appear in an upcoming geico commercial. just visit geico.com/bestof. oh, geico.

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welcome back to trinity washington university. we're here with speaker nancy pelosi. speaker pelosi. democrats won back the house largely on the issue of healthcare. a really important issue for so many americans. still is a healthcare law under threat. so i want to go right to a student who i believe has a healthcare question. carol sardina. you are getting your master in occupational therapy. >> correct. my question for the speaker is what approach will the democrats in the house take to fixing the affordable care act? >> well thank you so much for your question. and i think that the reference should be the affordable care act. it is -- we are very proud of the affordable care act. we think there is a generational opportunity to establish a

pillar of economic and health security on par with social security, medicare, medicaid, affordable care act and a path to ensuring, making sure that everyone has access to affordable quality healthcare in our country. there are some challenges that we face because certain things have expired within the bill. and that have not been renewed by the administration. very, very dangerous thing that the administration did. they couldn't -- they couldn't overturn the affordable care act. and do you know why? the american people spoke. told their stories. 10,000 events around the country. town hall meetings. press conferences. visits to offices and the rest. little lobbyists. little children with physical challenges, preexisting conditions. people with pre existing conditions. 123,000 -- 123 million families

affected. so they fought them. how far in their tax scam bill the republicans passed they took away individual mandate. and that was very dangerous in terms of the affordable care act. so we would have to replace that. a couple of things that i would do is to raise the income level at which people can get subsidies so more people would be able to get the subsidies. i think that is very, very important. strengthen the law so that it is required that states will have, expand medicaid. very very important. but the virtue of it is that not just 20 million more people have access to healthcare, which would be a justification in itself. is that 123 million more families would have "access" even though they had a preexisting condition. and many more families have

better benefits. so the entire population benefitted if they avail themselves of it and their states enabled them to avail themselves. certainly with any bill that is passed of that magnitude places we know we can improve. but now we have to make up for some of what reinsurance that the republicans would not renew. some things that we have to go. >> when you mention other options, medicare -- popular one among lot of your caucus. we now have learned that thanks to the changeover in leadership there will be hearings on medicare for all. do you expect the medicare for all bill to come to the floor this year? >> well understand this. medicare for all is a good idea. but medicare is not as good a benefit as the affordable care act is if you are younger. so we either have to expand for people who are getting affordable care act in a way that they understand or we have

to approve the benefits of medicare. so we're saying to people understand what it is -- what it means to the individual. and that is a fair review that we should have. >> you will have hearings now on that. >> we'll have hearings on the subject. >> and again i have said before i even came to congress i was out there with signs that said single payor because that is the least costly administratively of all. singer payer is not exactly same as medicare for all. but what does it cost? 30 trillion dollars to do single player. how do you pay for that. okay? affordable care act has a way for people to participate as a mandate. no free riders. the medicare for all you have to review. what are the benefits? and people have to understand that. and if we expand the benefits how is that -- >> how do you pay for it. and one of the earlier steps off the take before you even add a

new law is rules that allow bills to come to the floor innen expeditious way. i'm holding an op ed that you co-authored with the chairman of the rules committee jimmy mcgovern. and you talk about changing the way that the house actually operates to make it more transparent. you could have written an on ed about things. there are so many things on the minds and on the agenda lists of the american people whether it is voting rights or gun reform. you started with transparency. why? >> well we started with hr-1 which is a return integrity to government. >> the first bill. >> well that's hr 1. we'll bring our first bill was -- >> a seventh bill. right. >> it will be a --. but the point about this is that we are promising transparency. so that the -- >> what does that mean? i feel like that word is used a lot but what does that actually mean in pragmatic terms. >> you have openness.

no dark of night, speed of light package of a bill that has a 7 trillion dollar impact on the economy like the republican tax scan that give the benefits to the top%. it means the public will see what the impact of legislation is on them. openness. the public can see, world of social media and the traditional media enables people to have a better idea of what's happening. not the way they did it. without one hearing. 7 trillion dollar impact on the economy. not one hearing. >> can you enforce this idea of a 72 hour comment period? >> yes, of course. all you have to do is do it. the as decision that they did not make. and so they said they had 72 hours but what they would do is take a 24 hour day and take one minute off the day before and one minute off the day before and one minute after and say that is three day, that is 72 hours. but that is not. the public has to be able to see. and we promised bipartisanship.

most of the things in our agenda are about bipartisan issues. the president wants to lower th. so do we. and that is a first item on the agenda. the president hasn't said e wants to reduce the role of money in politics but that is what we want to do. >> let's talk about this congress that you have. a really diverse caucus. lot of agenda items they want to be done. how do you balance a caucus that's got all of these activist progressives it's got people elected in more red districts. they have all these various and disparate agendas. how do you not let ideological -- effect progress. >> we have shared values and all along people say you are a good unifier of our caucus.

i say no i'm not. our values unify us. and our primary focus is on economic security of america's working families. it is about fairness in our economy and in terms of opportunity. and that is whatever else we may disagree on or place a different emphasis on. it always comes back to that. and i feel very confident that our colleagues, as i said yesterday. we have to address the disparity of income in america. >> sure. >> it is shameful. and some of the things we have as priorities also, in addition to reducing the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs. preserving preexisting conditions in addition to building bigger paychecks by building the infrastructure in a green way. in a green way. >> well you mentioned green. >> and some other issues are bipartisan. again. openness, bipartisanship.

gun safety. there is bipartisan support in the congress and country for common sen common sense background checks for people who want to buy a gun. and second bipartisan support in the country to protect our dreamers. and third bipartisan support in the discrimination against lgbtq people in our community. so it's about sending discrimination. it's about respecting who we are as a people. it's about keeping people safe. there's bipartisanship in the congress in the country on those issues. >> sure. >> so we're not looking for a fight, we're looking for many, one, how do we unify? openness, bipartisanship, unity. >> another question from a student. shelly ward, a journalism student. >> congratulations on the election. >> do you support the black lives matter movement? >> well, i support the recognition that black lives matter, for sure.

and i have incorporated that in many of my statements. i think all lives matter, yes. but there has -- we really have to redress past grievances in terms of how we have addressed the african-american community. i had a real privilege yesterday to address the swearing in of the new black caucus members. at least eight new members elected from places that are not majority black communities. so this was a real breakthrough. so i think that we're all, you know, working together to make sure that every part of our community, whether it's immigrant community, whether it's the black community, women's community and the rest, not only matter, but rule. >> we know that race relations are at a low meter at the moment for a lot of reasons. is there anything that politics can do about that, to address it? >> well, first of all, one of the most significant things we can do is to lift up the economic well-being of all

americans, that we can say to people that we will have an economy that works for you. one of the ways to do that is to get rid of the corruption and the role of big, dark money in politics so people have confidence that we will make a decision in the people's interest, and not in the special interests. so these things are not disconnected. that's why hr 1 is so important for us. >> is that going to include voting rights? that's one of the main aspects of discrimination against people of color. >> the voting rights act is part of our -- as we go forward, we'll take longer to pass the voting rights act because we have to build the constitutional record for that. but not to hold us up from putting forth hr 1 which has many other john lewis's initiatives for alleviating voter suppression and the rest of that. but we do have to give people -- when they vote, that their vote will count as cast, that voting rights are respected in our

country. imagine, imagine that it's been a number of years since the court made its terrible decision and republicans will not bring up the bill. but what, they'll go to selma and be there for the 50th anniversary of the march on selma. so we have to hold people to their public statements. and it is -- it's really important, not just for black lives, but for america. >> madam speaker, stay right there. we will have more with the speaker when we come back. stay right there. i can't tell you who i am or what i witnessed, but i can tell you liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i only pay for what i need. oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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♪ before we go, i heard a little story about you. >> what's that? >> that back when you were a student here at trinity that you might have -- you might have made off with some contraband from the commissary. do you remember that story? >> i remember it. it was a part of our lives. >> we've got your friends back here, including your roommate, former roommate from trinity. what would be the one word they would use to describe you? >> i have no idea. you'll have to ask them. but we had a sister hood that included our going in the dark

of night to -- we would have bought the ice cream if they had been there to sell it to us. >> but it was there. >> but it was there, and it was challenging. what we did learn is in the dark of night it's hard to tell the flavors apart. >> there. in closing, speaker pelosi, i think a lot of people would agree that the legacy of your first speakership it was a pretty formidable legacy, with health care. being the preimminent accomplishment. what do you want the legacy of your second speakership to be? >> that we have head on address the issue of disparity of income in america. because the lack of confidence that people in their own financial security is not right for democracy. democracy is the backbone of our democracy is a strong middle class and we want more people to be in it. and those who aspire to it to be drawn into it.

so our democracy depends on people feeling confident about their own economic well-being, the middle class. and so that. and then, of course, for me, as i said, my flagship issue as speaker before was the climate issue, we must address the climate issue as we build america in a new green way. i just want to close with one trinity story. when the bill was signed, the affordable care act, it was historic, president obama, our inspiration, our leader, just so fabulous. so secretary of hhs at the time, who helped to navigate all of this, and so we said to the president, mr. president, for this historic occasion we want a picture with the trinity sisters, meaning the two of us. but he thought we were going to be see ing nuns, and he said where are the sisters? and we said we are the sisters.

>> speaker pelosi, i want to thank you very much, thank you for being here today. thank you, trinity for having us. thank you to trinity washington university. thank you for tuning in, more news is up next on the 11th hour with brian williams. thanks for joining us, good night. >> all the things coming ou about this case are mind boggling. things that you would never believe and never do. >> the killer had been waiting. >> she walks into the house and confronts a monster. >>