Pelosi chalks up spat with Ocasio-Cortez to "family differences"
Amid reports of tensions causing a rift within the Democratic party between newcomers and political veterans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met for talks on Friday. The meeting comes after the freshman congresswoman accused the speaker of "singling out newly elected women of color" in the Democratic Party.
While Pelosi was spotted nearly half an hour after she entered her office this morning on her way to gavel in a pro forma session of the House, she told reporters the meeting with Ocasio-Cortez was "nice."
"I have meetings with members all the time," she added. A photo of the two was tweeted out shortly thereafter, showing the two politicians smiling in Pelosi's office.
"I sat down to discuss working together to meet the needs of our districts and our country, fairness in our economy and diversity in our country," Pelosi said of the huddle on Friday.
Ocasio-Cortez's earlier comment was the latest shot fired in a war of words between Pelosi and a group of more left-leaning members of the House, known as "the Squad."
"When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm's distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood," Ocasio-Cortez told The Washington Post earlier about Pelosi. "But the persistent singling out. . . it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful. . . the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color."
In an exchange with Nancy, when asked about the feud Cummings said, "Whenever you have folks who criticize anybody I think it can be distracting, I think we'll see a little difference in that in the future."
Asked by CBS News' Nancy Cordes if she buried the hatchet with Ocasio-Cortez during Friday's meeting despite those comments, Pelosi replied: "There wasn't any hatchet."
"The congresswoman is a very gracious member of congress so we had a very positive conversation about our districts and how we represent them," she added. "We have been engaged in differences in opinion in our caucus and that is a good thing."
Cordes later pressed the speaker about familial infighting.
"It's like you're in a family and in a family you have your differences, but you're still a family. Does your family always agree on everything?" Pelosi asked Cordes.
"Sometimes we have meetings to clear the air," Cordes replied.
"You have meetings in your family? Oh my god, well you may be a model for us all," Pelosi retorted.
Meanwhile, after once calling Pelosi "disrespectful," on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez appeared to change her tune.
"The Speaker respects the fact that we're coming together as a party in unity," the Democrat told CBS News.
Emily Tillett, Kimberly Brown and Rebecca Kaplan contributed reporting.
