Nancy Pelosi wanted to "punch" Trump during congressional raid

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she would have "punch[ed] out" former President Donald Trump if he had joined the congressional assailants in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Pelosi's comments were shown in a video made public Friday, the same day that the congressional investigative committee unanimously decided to subpoena Trump to testify.

"I'm going to punch him out. I've been waiting for this." Pelosi tells her chief of staff, Terri McCullough. "If he comes, I’m going to punch him out... For trespassing on the Capitol grounds," she insists. "And I'm going to go to jail, and I'm going to be happy," the current House speaker added in an exclusive video aired by CNN.

"I'm going to go to jail, and I'm going to be happy."

The video was made public on the same day that the commission investigating the incidents of January 6, 2021 unanimously decided to subpoena Trump to testify. Hearing Chairman Bennie Thompson made some harsh statements before announcing the former president's subpoena.

Trump "delighted" to appear

According to Fox News, a person close to the former president said that Trump "loves the idea of testifying," so he can "talk about how corrupt the election was, how corrupt the committee was and how Nancy Pelosi did not call up the National Guard as Trump strongly advised her to do three days earlier on January 3, 2021."

These statements were ratified by Trump himself with several posts on Truth Social. In one, he questions "Crazy Nancy Pelosi['s]" decision not to call out the National Guard and concludes that "Crazy Nancy failed the American people."

"A partisan witch hunt."

In another post on Truth Social, the former president was very critical of the investigative committee.

"The committee is a hoax, a sham, a partisan witch hunt that is a continuation of the witch hunt that has gone on since the big day for our country that I came down the golden escalator with our future first lady," he insisted on Fox News. "They have no case, they have no audience, so they have to try to do this to get publicity".

Trump went on: "The investigation has been a partisan witch hunt, together with two Republicans that have been thrown out of the party — one not wanting to run because he couldn’t win; and another losing by a record number of more than 40 points."