Pelosi: Trump speech plan latest effort to ‘degrade’ the White House

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that President Trump’s suggestion that he would accept nomination from the White House lawn would “degrade” the White House and was “a diversion” from the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s very wrong,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, noting that on Capitol Hill members of Congress have “very limited opportunity to reference anything political.”

Pelosi added that “for the President of the United States to degrade once again the White House as he has done over and over again by saying he’s going to completely politicize it, is something that should be rejected right out of hand.” 

Speaker Pelosi says President Trump accepting the GOP nomination from the White House “is something that should be rejected right out of hand.”

“It’s a diversion, and that is what he is, a master of diversion.” pic.twitter.com/GUJWHnEw68

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 5, 2020

When asked on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning about reports that GOP convention planners were considering the White House South Lawn as an option for delivering his GOP nomination acceptance speech, Trump said that it would “probably” be the case. 

Pelosi said that Trump’s suggestion is “notion mongering, not serious thinking,” and accused him of trying to divert attention from the administration’s handling of the pandemic. 

“States are suffering from the virus — and we’re talking about whether he can have a political event at the White House,” Pelosi said. “He can’t. But again, it’s a diversion, and he’s a master of diversion.”

Reports about the nomination taking place at the White House have raised concerns about potential violation of the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees — with the exception of the president and vice president – of participating in partisan political activities in their official capacity.