Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she had no intention of ripping up President Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address, telling ABC’s This Week Sunday that the now-infamous moment was spontaneous rather than premeditated. Pelosi stood by her explanation that she began tearing pages because she believed the speech was filled with falsehoods.
Pelosi acknowledged the moment that became one of the most viral clips of the Trump-Pelosi era was not planned before she entered the House chamber. She said she initially tore one page because she believed it was dishonest, then continued through the speech’s pages for the same reason. According to her comments, she did not intend to make a broader statement when she arrived for Trump’s address.
The former speaker described her actions as a reaction to what she perceived as a “manifesto of lies” in Trump’s speech, telling interviewer Jonathan Karl that she felt the speech contained so many inaccuracies that she needed to tear the whole thing. Pelosi said she didn’t anticipate the reaction — or that her staff would be alarmed — when she began tearing the document.
Pelosi’s 2025 remarks come in the context of her decision not to seek re-election, a career shift marking the end of nearly four decades in Congress. She used the interview to reflect on defining moments of her tenure, including her leadership during clashes with President Trump and her role in passing the Affordable Care Act.
Her reflections underscore how the tearing moment has endured in political memory. Conservatives widely criticized Pelosi at the time, framing the act as disrespectful and emblematic of partisan divisions. President Trump and GOP lawmakers said the gesture was unbecoming of the speaker’s office and beneath the dignity of the State of the Union tradition.
Pelosi’s defense represents an effort to reframe the episode as an unprompted reaction to what she viewed as dishonest content, rather than a calculated political stunt. Her comments arrive as Democrats prepare for the 2026 midterm elections and Republicans continue to emphasize unity and respect for institutional norms — themes often invoked in conservative circles when discussing the Trump era.
