House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took to the House floor ahead of that body's vote on a resolution condemning Donald Trump's racist remarks about members of Congress to call those tweets racist, launching a firestorm and drawing Republican ire.
"Every single member of this institution … should join us in condemning the president's racist tweets. To do anything less would be a shocking rejection of our values and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people," she concluded her remarks. That drew an immediate reaction from Republicans on the floor, who started grumbling, and caused Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia ask her to "rephrase that comment."
"I cleared my remarks with the parliamentarian before I read them," Pelosi said, walking away from the lectern. Collins immediate asked that her words be taken down—stricken from the record. As it turns out, she might not have done that, perhaps inviting this fight, becoming the lightning rod for this fight. Because the arcane House rules actually do say that members can't say what she said. "References to racial or other discrimination on the part of the President are not in order. As such, remarks may not refer to the President as: (1) a racist; (2) having made 'racial slurs' or 'racial epithets.'"
If the House actually decides that her words will be taken down, Pelosi wouldn't be allowed to speak again during the debate on this resolution. Ironically, the very title of the resolution the House will be voting on, the resolution Pelosi spoke on, is "Condemning President Trump's racist comments directed at Members of Congress." The very thing she isn't supposed to say in a floor statement. After that started being pointed out by many on twitter, Republicans decided the title was an issue, too.
As of this writing, it appeared that the plan was to have the parliamentarian rule against Pelosi, and then the Democratic majority would vote to table the ruling. How the House will proceed, and when the vote on the resolution will happen, remains unclear. Stay tuned.