Three takeaways from Nancy Pelosi’s new book on rise to power in House

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) released a new book detailing her historic rise to power in Congress, pointing to her experience as a lawmaker as well as a key ally and adviser to several presidents and their administrations. 

The Art of Power, which was released on Tuesday, details Pelosi’s experience as the first female speaker of the House as well as the duties the position entails. The Democratic leader also responds to the rise in political attacks over the last several years, using it to plea for a return to decency in politics. 

“The current climate of threats and attacks must stop,” Pelosi wrote, according to the Associated Press. “We cannot ask people to serve in public life if the cost is risking the safety of their families and those they love.”

Here are the top three takeaways from the book.

Pelosi feared she would die during Jan. 6 attack

In the book, Pelosi detailed her experience during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol during which the former House speaker said she feared for her own life. 

Pelosi recounted being escorted from the speaker’s platform in the House chamber by her security detail and being transported to Fort McNair with other top congressional leaders. At the time, she attempted to tell Capitol Police officers she could “handle it,” to which they responded, “No you can’t.” 

Pelosi also called then-Vice President Mike Pence, who was in the Capitol during the attack, to warn him not to “let anybody know where you are,” according to the Associated Press. 

Doctors told Pelosi they were concerned about Trump’s mental health

While speaker, Pelosi said she was approached by doctors and other mental health professionals who expressed concerns about former President Donald Trump and “that his mental and psychological health was in decline.”

“I’m not a doctor,” the former speaker wrote, “but I did find his behaviors difficult to understand.”

Pelosi said the concerns were raised during a funeral for Dr. David Hamburg, a prominent psychiatrist who died in 2019. However, the former speaker said she did not solicit the advice. 

However, the concerns were raised just one year before Trump’s mental acuity became a top talking point during the 2020 election, even resulting in the former president taking a cognitive test to ward off attacks from Democrats. 

Still, Pelosi wrote that she found Trump to be “unhinged” and “imbalanced.” 

“I knew Donald Trump’s mental imbalance. I had seen it up close,” she wrote. “His denial and then delays when the Covid pandemic struck, his penchant for repeatedly stomping out of meetings, his foul mouth, his pounding on tables, his temper tantrums, his disrespect for our nation’s patriots, and his total separation from reality and actual events. His repeated, ridiculous insistence that he was the greatest of all time.”

Pelosi gives a glimpse into the aftermath of husband’s attack

In her book, Pelosi also gives a rare glimpse into the aftermath of the attack on her husband Paul Pelosi nearly two years ago. 

During that incident, Paul Pelosi was violently attacked in his San Francisco home after David DePape allegedly broke in to look for the House speaker, according to a federal criminal complaint. During the incident, DePape struck Paul Pelosi with a hammer, causing a skull fracture and serious injuries to his arm and hands.

Pelosi recounted the conversation she had with Capitol Police when they informed her of the attack while she was staying at her home in Washington. 

“It’s Mr. Pelosi. He’s been attacked in your home,” they told her. 

“Is he OK?” she responded. 

“We don’t know.”

“Is he alive?”

“We don’t know.”

Pelosi described the experience of frantically traveling back to San Francisco while attempting to contact family members of the attack. She also recounted the surgeries, treatment, and recovery process for her husband. Even two years later, Paul Pelosi still suffers from headaches and vertigo, the former speaker writes, and she still must change bandages on his arm from surgery. 

“Our home remains a heartbreaking crime scene,” she wrote. “I don’t know that we will ever feel safe.”