RNC chair Ronna McDaniel says it's 'unfair' to link GOP criticism of Nancy Pelosi to her husband being attacked by an intruder at their California home
- Ronna McDaniel said it was "unfair" to link GOP messaging to the attack on Paul Pelosi on Sunday.
- On "Fox News Sunday," McDaniel rejected any notion that Republican rhetoric had been overheated.
Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel said it was "unfair" to suggest that GOP messaging contributed to the violent assault on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband at the family's San Francisco home last week.
During an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," host Shannon Bream presented McDaniel with a recently-published Washington Post article that detailed the party's yearslong drive to demonize the veteran California Democrat, who in 2007 became the first female House speaker in United States history.
McDaniel pushed back against any allegations that GOP messaging was problematic or incited violence and instead flipped the narrative to lambast Democrats.
"You can't say people saying 'Let's fire Pelosi,' or 'Let's take back the House' is saying 'Go do violence.' It's just unfair. I think we all need to recognize that violence is up across the board," she said. "But I think the other thing to remember is, if this weren't Paul Pelosi, this criminal would probably be out on the street tomorrow."
"We saw Lee Zeldin's attacker was on the street right after he attacked him. This is what Democrat policies are bringing," she added, referencing an attack earlier this year against the New York GOP gubernatorial nominee. "But of course we wish Paul Pelosi a recovery. We don't like this at all across the board."
Paul Pelosi was assaulted in the couple's San Francisco residence on Friday by an intruder who broke into the home and demanded to know the location of the speaker, who was not at the residence at the time.
The speaker has been a longtime political foil for Republicans, especially in the current election cycle as they angle to regain a House majority this fall.
Many GOP lawmakers have spoken out forcefully against the attack, but former President Donald Trump — who repeatedly clashed with the speaker during his White House tenure — has not yet issued a statement on the incident.