Pelosi snubs Trump in leadership exit announcement, says she 'enjoyed' working with 3 presidents: Bush, Obama, and Biden

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she's stepping down from leadership after two decades.
• She mentioned she 'enjoyed' working with three presidents: Bush, Obama, and Biden. She didn't mention Trump.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't name former President Donald Trump during her speech on Thursday announcing that she would be stepping down from Democratic leadership.

Speaking on the House floor, Pelosi took a victory lap over legislative achievements she'd had under former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, holding up three fingers and saying she "enjoyed working under three presidents."

"It has been my privilege to play a part in forging extraordinary progress for the American people," she said.

When Trump was president, Pelosi oversaw both of his impeachments and successfully messaged the GOP's attacks on the Affordable Care Act to win a majority in the US House in 2018. The two leaders frequently and openly clashed during Trump's presidency.

Without saying "Trump," however, Pelosi did reflect on the threat posed to democracy when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

"Indeed American Democracy is majestic, but it is fragile," Pelosi said. "Many of us have witnessed the fragility first hand, tragically in this chamber. And so Democracy must be forever defended from forces that wish it harm."

Pelosi in 2020 famously ripped up a copy of Trump's State of the Union Address as she stood behind him immediately after he concluded his speech, tossing the torn paper aside. Pelosi later told reporters that she ripped up the speech because "it was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives."

Pelosi's decision to remain in the US House but not seek the top leadership slot during the next Congress ends two decades of her time leading the Democratic Party.

Pelosi in 2018 reached an agreement with seven Democrats who opposed her bid for speaker that she would set a term limit of four years to her tenure and for that of the other top three Democratic leaders. On Thursday, she made good on that promise, saying "we must move boldly into the future."

Pelosi is a master tactician of the legislative process who has ruled her caucus with an iron fist and secured the passage of some of the Democratic Party's signature legislative accomplishments.

During Obama's tenure, Pelosi advanced the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank Act that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and a stimulus package in response to the 2008 recession.

Over the past two years, Pelosi spearheaded Biden's key policy proposals, including the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, the bipartisan infrastructure law, and the healthcare and climate package known as the Inflation Reduction Act.