Updated Feb 6, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Trump takes aim at Pelosi and Romney during National Prayer Breakfast

Rashaan Ayesh

Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

President Trump used his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday to take a swipe at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) over their roles in his impeachment.

"I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say 'I pray for you' when they know that that's not so. So many people have been hurt and we can't let that go on."

Pelosi has frequently said that she prays for the president.
Romney cited his faith in a note to colleagues as a reason for his vote to convict Trump in the Senate's impeachment trial. On the Senate floor, he also said, "My promise before God, to apply impartial justice, required that I put my personal feelings and political biases aside."

The other side: Pelosi called Trump's comments "completely inappropriate" at her weekly press conference, before praising Romney for his vote to convict: "God bless him for his courage."

She later added: "I don't know if the president understands prayer or the people who do pray. ... He can say whatever he wants, but I do pray for him and I do so sincerely and without anguish, gently, just the way I pray for everybody else."

Trump also used the National Prayer Breakfast to hold up newspapers headlined with his impeachment acquittal:

Go deeper:

Add Axios on Google

Trump takes aim at Pelosi and Romney during National Prayer Breakfast

What to read next