JUDY WOODRUFF: House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi was one of several
high-profile women to address

the country last night at
the Democratic National
Convention, sharing her
support for the Biden/Harris

ticket.

And Speaker Pelosi joins
us now from San Francisco.

Madam Speaker, thank you
for being with us again.

We heard you say last night
you have seen - - and I'm
quoting -- "firsthand President

Trump's disrespect for facts,
for working families and
for women in particular."

What were you referring to?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I
was referring to his policies
that we know are anti-women

and his conduct.

But let's just talk about the
policies, if we will. I went
on to say that we know what

he probably doesn't, is
that, when women succeeds,
America succeeds. And
so we want to protect

a woman's right to choose
and preserve Roe v. Wade.

We want to have a guarantee
of affordable, quality child
care, enable to unleash the

full power of women. We want
to also have strength in
Social Security and equal pay

for equal work.

And who's standing in
the way? Mitch McConnell
and Donald Trump.

To name a few of our
women-oriented priorities to
unleash the power of women.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You have been
-- you're in San Francisco,
but you have attended many

conventions, as
a lot of us have.

This one is different,
by necessity. But do you
think that we're looking
at the way conventions

are going to be going forward?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: This is my
15th convention, my first when
I was 12 years old, going with

my father, mayor of
Baltimore, our whole
family, telling Americans
we take the whole family

to the convention, wherever we
go. And that was interesting.

But it -- but I do think it
was beautifully, magnificently
handled. And I do -- as the

chair of the convention in San
Francisco in 1984, as chair
of the host committee of the

convention, I have
played every role.

I have been chair in
one convention of the
platform committee. I
have been chair of the

delegate selection
committee. I have been
chair of the convention,
the whole convention.

And I can have an appreciation
for what they did to pull this
off. And it was magnificent.

I had the privilege of thanking
the staff earlier today.

I think our future is
probably a hybrid, because
this was great. It had an
impact. It had succinctness.

It had clarity. But it didn't
have our collaboration of seeing
each other, which I still think

is something very important
to the strength of the party.

But if I had to choose one
way, actual or virtual, I would
choose virtual. But I think

hybrid is the wave of the
future, where we can have the
benefit of both, the impact,

as well as the collaboration.

JUDY WOODRUFF: That's
very interesting.

You are convening the House of
Representatives. You have got
some travel ahead of you. That's

this Saturday. And you're going
to be trying to pass a bill
that will forbid the Postal

Service from cutting back
on services that would
impede voting by mail.

My question is, do you expect to
get Republican support for this?
And while you say Republicans

are losing on this issue, and
you say they are scared, how
confident are you that, once

this bill passes, the president
is going to abide by it?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, all we
can do is put it on his desk.

I do think we will have
some Republican support,
from what they have
been saying. We will see

how they vote.

But this is something that
touches, hits home for America's
families. The post office is

- - the Postal Service has
over 90 percent positive rating
from the American people,

higher than any agency of
government. It is as American
as our Constitution, that it's

written in the Constitution
that we will have a
Postal Service and that
Congress shall administer

to establishing the
roads, et cetera, the
postal roads, et cetera.

And so it's as American as
our Constitution, apple pie,
motherhood, baseball, the Postal

Service.

And right now, we have a
situation where members
across the country,
Democrats and Republicans,

are getting reports of delayed
mail. That affects prescriptions
that our veterans expect.

Nearly 100 percent of
veteran -- VA prescriptions
go through the mail.

Last year, 1.2 billion
prescriptions went
through the mail. That
was in 2019, well before

the coronavirus hit.

So, in this time of a pandemic,
compounded by the time of an
election, where people want

to vote by mail...

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

REP. NANCY PELOSI: ... so
they don't have to risk their
health in order to vote, for

the post office to be pulling
in post office box -- the boxes,
and taking down the sorting

machines, and not increasing
the overtime hours and the
rest, we will have a bill to

correct all of that..

JUDY WOODRUFF: But at this --
and so how -- at this point,
how confident are you that the

American people are going to
fully have the ability to vote
and have their votes counted

in November?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, let
me just say, we would never
count on the Republicans for

that, because they, sadly,
have put up obstacles
to participation.

But I know, as the former
chair of the California
Democratic Party, that
Republicans very successfully

vote by mail. They do. They
have led the way on this.

And so, across the country,
Democrats and Republicans are
supporting our call for more

funding for vote by mail, as
well as more funding for those
who don't want to vote by

mail to be able to safely vote
by having more places, more
distancing, more hours, more

days where people can go
to the polls and vote.

Republicans are against that.
But, again, we don't agonize;
we organize. And we're going

to make sure that everyone
has a plan well in advance to
vote, to vote early, to ensure

that their vote is
counted as cast.

The Postal Service wants
to stand in the way of
that. We will make sure
that we can overcome

it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me ask
you about COVID relief
before the Congress.

You have been struggling to
strike a deal, as we know,
with Republicans on this. But,

this week, more than 100
Democrats in the House signed
a letter urging you to pass a

smaller relief bill than
what you have out there.

You were -- had agreed to go
from $3 trillion down to $2
trillion. But they would -- they

want to expand
unemployment benefits.
But, basically, they're
saying, after the duration

of this COVID emergency, that
they would scale the support
based on what the situation is

in every state.

But my question is, where
do you stand on what
they're asking you to do?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, they're
asking us to do -- and I fully,
from a policy standpoint,

have always supported
the stabilization.

That means that, if you
say, when unemployment
reaches a certain point,
that you would automatically

have unemployment
benefits. That's a very
positive initiative. I
have encouraged that.

I have welcomed that suggestion.

I don't think, strategically,
it's where we should go right
now, because the Republicans

would like to pass something
like that and say, forget about
it. Forget about state and

local. Forget about our
investments in stopping
the virus. Forget about
other initiatives,

about feeding the food-insecure
country in our country,
vote-by-mail initiatives, and

the rest.

So, I -- again, I think that's
something we should pass. I
don't think the timing is for

us to do it right now, because,
imagine, the Republicans could
take that into the Senate,

put poison pills all over it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Ah.

REP. NANCY PELOSI: And it's
hard to vote against extending
unemployment benefits.

And, again, I think,
overwhelmingly, our members
- - who would not want
to extend unemployment

benefits? As I say, it's
something I fully support,
and the stabilization,
but not necessarily

in the negotiation.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But just to
clarify, then, you don't really
see an opening here to get

this thing resolved in coming
-- in the coming few days?

(CROSSTALK)

REP. NANCY PELOSI: No, I do.

I don't think it's done
by giving them an out.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Ah.

REP. NANCY PELOSI: I think
it's done by making them
come into the negotiation,
because, really,

the most central point
of it all, where people's
needs are met the most,
is the issue of state

and local government.

And they have said, we don't
think one state should pay for
another state's concerns. Well,

we in California have
been paying for other
people's concerns for
a long time. So have

people in New York and the
rest. That's the American way.
We do it with great pride, not

with any resentment.

But they have said, oh,
it's a tax issue. Why should
people in one state help other

people in another state?

Welcome to the United
States of America.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Two other...

REP. NANCY PELOSI: But I do --
I appreciate what my members
are doing. I support fully

that. But I don't
necessarily think the
timing of it is right now.

I think that's something that
we do when we know we will
get it signed without poison

pills.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Two
other very quick things.

The Russians being accused
of interfering again in this
year's presidential election.

Senate Intelligence
Committee report, you're
very familiar with it.

They say, among other things,
the Russians are continuing to
spread disinformation. Democrats

are saying they're specifically
planting disinformation
with Republicans like
Senator Ron Johnson.

Do Democrats have
the information, the
evidence to back that up?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Yes,
we have been briefed.

But not to go into confirming
or denying anything, what we're
saying is that the intelligence

community should be
putting forth what it
can, without jeopardizing
sources and methods,

of course.

But there is no question that
the Republicans - - excuse me
-- that the Russians are 24/7

trying to undermine the
integrity of our elections.

The intelligence community
knows. In fact, they have
stated -- they have stated that.

But we have further
evidence that they could
state more fully, so
that, whether wittingly

or unwittingly, those who
might use that information
have the fullest knowledge,
and that the public

knows what the Republican --
what the Russians are up to.

This is -- this is about our
-- I think the American people
are clear. They would rather

that they decide who the
president of the United States
is than Vladimir Putin, with

his infiltration of our social
media, with their supplying --
putting forth false information

and -- oh, I can't really
go into so much of it.

But it's very wrong. The
administration knows it's wrong.
And the president does anything

but invite it. And then they
try to make it - - what is
problematic is, they try to make

some equivalence: Well, this
country is doing that, and
this country is doing that.

There is nothing like what the
Russians are doing. We don't
want anybody interfering in

our elections, but just
don't make it look like it's
on par with other things.

It is a major assault on our
democracy. And it has a bigger
agenda. It has the agenda

of undermining democracies.
And they have done it in our
country, and they have done

it in other countries
throughout the world.

We should not allow our country
to be -- allow this to happen
and be accomplices to their

undermining of democracy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The speaker of
the House of Representatives,
Nancy Pelosi, thank you very

much for joining us.

REP. NANCY PELOSI: My
pleasure. Thank you.