White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs this afternoon tried to tamp down any fallout from a spat with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, praising her work on behalf of the Obama administration. He said she has done “monumental” work in “passing the agenda of this president.”
Reporters asked Gibbs about reports that Pelosi (D-CA) sounded off about the press secretary during a Democratic caucus meeting. This is the third day in a row Gibbs has been asked to explain his remarks from NBC’s Meet the Press that there is “no doubt” Republicans could take back the House this fall.
Pelosi apparently wasn’t happy with the comments. Gibbs said this afternoon during his press briefing he has not spoken with her but he stands by his statement since it’s such a competitive race heading into the fall.
“I don’t think I said anything that was politically shocking,” Gibbs said. He also said he believes that when Democrats give voters a choice, “We are going to do very well” and “retain the House and the Senate.”
But Washington’s chattering class was set abuzz this morning when Politico reported:
“How could [Gibbs] know what is going on in our districts?” Pelosi told her members in the caucus meeting in the basement of the Capitol Tuesday night. “Some may weigh his words more than others. We have made our disagreement known to the White House.”
CQ-Roll Call quoted another participant in the caucus:
“It was bad,” another source said. “She was like: ‘I don’t appreciate it. I don’t know who this guy is. I’ve never met him before. And he’s saying that we’re going to lose the House.’”
Gibbs insisted today that, “We have met before,” and described their relationship as “cordial.”
The Gibbs briefing came shortly before Pelosi and other House leaders were to meet privately with Obama about the upcoming agenda. When pushed, Gibbs said he would have used different phrasing on Meet the Press if it would have avoided ruffling feathers. “Of course the opinion of the speaker of the House matters to me,” Gibbs said.
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