No, this video doesn’t show former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ‘drunk’

U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., regularly features in misinformation shared on social media that claims to show her inebriated. 

A Nov. 3 Instagram post, for example, described her as being "drunk" during an interview on MSNBC’s "Inside with Jen Psaki" about the Nov. 5 election that former President Donald Trump won.

"Drunk Nancy Pelosi shows up to interview and can hardly string a few words together," the post said. 

"Wonderful to be with you again on this weekend before the election," Pelosi said in the post’s video clip. "I think that what the ex-president just said is further indication of his cognitive degeneration. You saw recently when he was talking about whether he chose electrocution or being eaten by sharks, something’s very wrong there and indicative — and it also is diminishing the power of the press, which is the guardian…"

The clip then ends.

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The longer video from that interview, shared on the show’s X page, showed Pelosi was responding to Trump’s comments at a Pennsylvania rally about how someone would need to shoot through the media to try to hit him. Pelosi went on to describe the press as the "guardian of our freedom and our country. So I think people who might be thinking about voting for him have to know that he can’t last as president for four years with his brain deteriorating at the rate that it is and is clearly evident."

Although Pelosi stalled a few times during her response, claims she was drunk are unfounded. At other points during the interview, notably excluded from the clip shared on Instagram, she spoke fluidly. 

Her verified YouTube page posted the interview on its account, an unlikely move were the former House speaker drunk. 

And Pelosi spokesperson Ian Krager told PolitiFact that Pelosi doesn’t drink. Her office has told us this before, in 2010 and 2020, in response to similar claims that she was recorded or photographed drunk. 

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