U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, is calling upon the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate a potential link between Russia and the anti-Israel protests that have been taking place in the United States.
Pelosi, according to NBC News, made the call on Sunday during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union.
The overarching topic that Pelosi and anchor Dana Bash discussed is the disagreement among Democrats about the Israel-Palestine conflict and how this might hurt President Joe Biden in the upcoming election.
As you, the reader, likely know, there are Democrats who have aligned themselves behind Israel, ever since Hamas launched a terrorist attack against the Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. But, there is also a sizable contingent of the Democratic Party that has aligned itself behind the people of Gaza.
Bash asked Pelosi whether she is concerned that pro-Palestinian Americans might stay home on election day in protest of Biden's support of Israel.
"One of the challenges that Democrats might have in organizing is some anger in some corners of the progressive movement over Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists," Bash said.
She then asked Pelosi, "How concerned are you, especially since we have seen protesters over and over and over? How concerned are you that young Americans, progressives? I’m not suggesting they might vote for Donald Trump, but how concerned are you they might stay home?"
Pelosi, in her response, tried to walk an extremely fine line. She tried to appease the pro-Palestinian Democrats, while not upsetting the pro-Israel contingent.
"I’ve been the recipient of their exuberance as recently as in Seattle on Thursday, unfortunately, wanting to disrupt our very exciting Democratic meeting there. They are in front of my house all the time. I have a feeling for what feelings they have. We have to think about what we’re doing. What we have to do is try to stop the suffering in Gaza. This is women and children and people who don’t have a place to go, so let’s address that," Pelosi said.
This is clearly Pelosi's appeasement of the pro-Palestinian Democrats. Then, she moved on to her pro-Israel message.
"For them to call for a cease-fire is Mr. Putin’s message, Mr. Putin’s message. Make no mistake, this is directly connected to what he would like to see. Same thing with Ukraine. It’s about Putin’s message. I think some of these protesters are spontaneous and, organic and sincere. Some are connected to Russia. I say that having looked at this for a long time," Pelosi said.
Bash followed up by asking Pelosi to clarify her last remark, which seem to insinuate that there are "Russian plants."
Pelosi refused to confirm that this is what she is alleging. Instead, she called for the Russians to be investigated.
"I think some financing should be investigated. I want to ask the FBI to investigate that," Pelosi said.
