House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday referred to Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, as the actor Don Johnson from the 1980s television show “Miami Vice” as she feuded with Senate Republicans over Capitol security.
Mrs. Pelosi first took issue with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell branding her proposed commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as partisan, calling his reaction “disappointing.”
She then accused Mr. McConnell of “taking his lead” from Mr. Johnson, but seemed unable to recall the latter lawmaker’s full name.
“For the [Republican] leader of the Senate to make light of this [security proposal] … well it’s Don Johnson. Is his first name Don?” Mrs. Pelosi said at a press conference. “What is it, Ron? Senator, let me call him. Not Miami Vice or anything like that? Don Johnson. Ron Johnson seems to be taking the lead on what the scope would be of how we look at protecting our country from domestic terrorism.”
Earlier in the press conference, Mrs. Pelosi said Mr. McConnell was “taking a page out of the book of Senator Johnson.” The Wisconsin Republican has previously questioned what Mrs. Pelosi knew about Capitol security in advance of the riot, and raised doubts about the motivations of the rioters during congressional hearings earlier this week.
Whether Mrs. Pelosi’s slip-up was a genuine error or a deliberate attempt to throw shade at Senate Republicans was open to question. Deliberately misremembering her political opponents’ names is “one of Pelosi’s fave shade moves,” noted Erica Werner, Washington Post reporter, on Twitter.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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