Trump Defends Pelosi After AOC Criticism: 'She is Not a Racist'

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in response to criticism from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

“I think [Ocasio] Cortez is being very disrespectful to somebody who’s been there a long time. I deal with Nancy Pelosi a lot and we go back and forth and it’s fine, but I think that a group of people is being very disrespectful to her and you know what? I don’t think that Nancy can let that go on,” Trump said before departing the White House on Friday. “She is not a racist. Okay? She is not a racist. For them to call her a racist is a disgrace.”

Pelosi told the New York Times that “all of these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world but they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.” Reacting to Pelosi’s statement, Ocasio-Cortez said the speaker has been “singling out” freshman members who are “women of color.”

On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez explained that she was “pointing out a pattern” and does not think Pelosi is racist.

“We’re not talking just about progressives, it’s singling out four individuals and knowing the media environment we’re operating in, knowing the amount of death threats we get, knowing the amount of concentration of attention, I think it’s worth asking why,” she said.