President Donald Trump said "corrupt" former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's retirement "is a great thing for America."
Shortly after the 85-year-old Pelosi, D-Calif., announced Thursday morning on X she would not run for reelection to Congress next year and would step down at the end of her 20th term, Trump blasted the longtime Democrat leader for being a destructive force.
"The retirement of Nancy Pelosi is a great thing for America," Trump told Fox News. "She was evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country.
"She was rapidly losing control of her party and it was never coming back. I'm very honored she impeached me twice and failed miserably twice.
"Nancy Pelosi is a highly overrated politician."
Trump's condemnation reflects their yearslong feud, marked by the president's refusal to shake Pelosi's hand at the 2020 State of the Union and her dramatic decision moments later to tear up a copy of speech on live television.
As speaker, Pelosi twice (2019, 2021) led House impeachment efforts against Trump, though both attempts failed in the Senate.
Just on Tuesday, Pelosi called Trump "vile" in an interview on CNN.
"He's just a vile creature. The worst thing on the face of the earth," Pelosi told CNN. "Because he's the president of the United States and he does not honor the Constitution of the United States.
"In fact, he's turned the Supreme Court into a rogue court.
"He's abolished the House of Representatives, he's chilled the press ... he's scared people who are in our country legally but making them smashing into their cars and the rest."
The timing of Pelosi's retirement underscores what many observers describe as growing pressure on aging Democrat leaders to step aside as the far left has taken control of the party.
That sentiment peaked during President Joe Biden's faltering 2024 campaign, when Pelosi privately urged him to consider exiting the race.
Pelosi's departure came two days after California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a Democrat-led redistricting measure aimed at flipping several House seats, a move conservatives view as a partisan power grab designed to counter GOP gains in Texas and other red states.
Pelosi, a progressive icon revered by the left and sharply opposed by conservatives, was the first woman to serve as speaker and long served as the party's chief Trump antagonist.
Trump and other conservatives argue Pelosi enabled policies that weakened border security, fueled inflation, and emboldened the party's activist left.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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