The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House

Pelosi describes events before, during, and after the January 6th, 2021 attack on the US Capitol during the certification of the 2020 election. She blames then-President Donald Trump’s claims that the election was “stolen” from him for the violence that day. She argues that the fact the country’s democracy survived that day is a testament to the patriotism of many, but especially Democrats in the House.

Due to her experiences with Trump in the lead-up to the riots, Pelosi wasn’t shocked when Trump committed offenses that were impeachable. She says of Trump that she “was already deeply aware of how dangerous Donald Trump was. He continues to be dangerous” and that she believes his behavior is possibly due to the “willful blindness, money, prestige, or greed” (245) which prevented his staff and family from staging an intervention to stop him. 

About a year prior, Pelosi shepherded articles of impeachment through the House after Trump pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to provide damning information on Hunter Biden, the son of then-candidate Joseph Biden, who worked on the board of a Ukrainian company. When Trump delayed the release of aid earmarked for Ukraine by Congress, Pelosi believed the implication was that the aid would only be released if Zelenskyy helped Trump.