The conservative reporter whom former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi snapped at outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday has now been identified.
The confrontation came as the 85-year-old California Democrat was being helped down the Capitol steps by an aide. Alison Steinberg, a reporter for LindellTV, a far-right outlet owned by MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell, pressed Pelosi about her role in Capitol security failures during the 2021 riot.
“Congresswoman Pelosi, are you at all concerned that the new January 6th committee will find you liable for that day?” Steinberg asked. “Why did you refuse the National Guard on January 6th?”
Pelosi quickly cut her off: “Shut up! I did not refuse the National Guard. The president didn’t send it.”
She then turned on the reporter, asking, “Why are you coming here with Republican talking points as if you’re a serious journalist?”
Steinberg, who has previously posted images of herself protesting Pelosi, ended her questioning by saying, “The American people want to know. We still have questions. Thank you.”
Clashing Narratives Over National Guard Deployment
The exchange reignites a long-running political battle over who was responsible for the security breakdown at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump and his allies have claimed he authorized National Guard deployment ahead of his rally, suggesting Pelosi blocked it. However, former Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, appointed by Trump, testified to the House Select Committee that no such order was given.
“I was never given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature,” Miller told the committee, per Yahoo.
Adding to that, official military protocol clarifies that the D.C. National Guard does not report to the Speaker of the House. According to the DC National Guard’s own website, it answers solely to the President via the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Army.
Pelosi’s Private Comments Undermine Her Public Defenses
Though Pelosi has denied rejecting help from the National Guard, footage filmed by her daughter, Alexandria, during the January 6 riot suggests she took partial responsibility for the lack of preparation.
In a video published by Republicans on the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Pelosi is seen speaking to her chief of staff while fleeing the Capitol: “They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepared for more," cited by Daily Mail.
“We have totally failed,” she added. “We have to take responsibility for not holding the security accountable for what could have happened.”
In the same footage, Pelosi appeared visibly frustrated. “Oh my God, I cannot believe the stupidity of this,” she said from the backseat of a vehicle speeding through the Capitol garage. “And I take the full responsibility.”
She also scolded an aide for asking about National Guard involvement mid-crisis: “You’re going to ask me - in the middle of the thing when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff - ‘should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean the National Guard. This is ridiculous.”
GOP Investigation Renewed
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), who is leading a new Republican-led select subcommittee reviewing the events of January 6, said the footage contradicts the previous committee’s conclusions and Pelosi’s own narrative.
“Pelosi’s J6 Select Committee spent taxpayer’s money chasing false political narratives and using Hollywood producers for their ‘investigation,’” Loudermilk said. “Her admission of responsibility directly contradicts their own narrative.”
He added in a statement to the New York Post following Wednesday’s outburst: “While Dems seem keen on playing political games and doubling down on the predetermined political narrative of Pelosi’s former committee, Republicans will continue to pursue the facts in an objective manner, no matter where they lead.”
Meanwhile, former Army Colonel Earl Matthews has come forward as a whistleblower for the new committee, claiming that military officials, specifically then-Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley and then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, believed Trump might try to use the military to interfere with election certification.
Matthews told the Daily Mail that Milley and McCarthy “unreasonably” assumed Trump would deploy the National Guard to stop the certification of the 2020 election results and had allegedly discussed disobeying such an order if it came.
While Wednesday’s confrontation may have ended with Pelosi walking away, the political fight over accountability for January 6 remains far from over. But as Pelosi made clear on the Capitol steps, she’s not backing down, but neither are her opponents.