Face of Nation : U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had no hatchet to bury on Friday, playing down tensions after a meeting between the powerful speaker and freshman lawmaker who in recent months has seized the Democratic Party spotlight.
In clashes with her own party leaders as well as the White House over border aid and other issues, Ocasio-Cortez and a handful of other left-wing Democratic progressives have become a target for President Donald Trump and his Republicans heading into the 2020 U.S. elections. The rise of “the squad,” as Ocasio-Cortez’s small group of four minority congresswomen is known, has sometimes appeared to strain Pelosi’s patience as she works to keep House Democrats unified and to restrain demands from many lawmakers to start impeachment proceedings against Trump.
In a news conference on Friday, Pelosi minimized divisions with Ocasio-Cortez and the other three squad members – Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley. Asked if she and Ocasio-Cortez had buried the hatchet, Pelosi told reporters, “I don’t think there ever was any hatchet.”
“These, some personality issues and the rest, they are minor,” she said. “We sat down today. We had a good meeting. And the congresswoman is a very gracious member of Congress, so we had a very positive conversation about our districts and how we represent them, our country.”
Pelosi also said that differences of opinion in the Democratic Party should be respected. “We are not a lockstep, rubber-stamp representation of anything,” the speaker said, recalling past party brawls over issues such as the Iraq war. Later Friday, Ocasio-Cortez told reporters the meeting with Pelosi had been positive and productive.
