WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump isn't sorry to see longtime House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi head for the congressional exits.

Asked about the powerhouse politician, who was the first and only woman to serve as speaker of the House, Trump said he was glad to see his nemesis go hours after Pelosi said she would not run for reelection.

"I think she's an evil woman. I'm glad she's retiring. I think she did the country a great service by retiring," Trump said in the Oval Office.

The president has long had an acrimonious relationship with Pelosi, who was speaker of the House during the latter part of his first term.

He said she was a "nasty, vindictive, horrible person" and a "disgrace" during a dispute in 2019. She ripped up a copy of his State of the Union address on national television while she was right behind him the following year.

While Trump was out of office, he said was "not a fan" of the Democratic lawmaker – and he promoted a conspiracy theory about the 2022 attack on her husband Paul in the couple's San Francisco home. During the 2024 presidential election, he referred to Pelosi, and other Democrats, as the "enemy within" while discussing the Capitol riot.

Trump said she was "evil, sick, crazy" and mouthed another name for Pelosi at his final campaign rally that he said "starts with a B, but I won’t say it." His supporters got the gist.

In an interview with CNN ahead of the vote on California's major redistricting effort known as Proposition 50, Pelosi laced into Trump and accused him of railroading independent institutions. "He's just a vile creature. The worst thing on the face of the Earth," she said.

Pelosi stepped down as House Democratic leader at the end of 2022 after her party lost control of the chamber in that year's midterm elections. She announced on Nov. 6, 2025 that she would not seek another term in Congress.

Democrats on Capitol Hill, and even some Republicans, credited Pelosi as a historic figure after her announcement.

Lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, said on CNN that Pelosi had an "incredible career" and acknowledged her knack for getting things done.

"I served under her during her speakership in Congress. I was very impressed in her ability to get things done," Greene said on CNN. "I wish we could get things done for our party like Nancy Pelosi did her for party. I wish her well in her retirement."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump calls Pelosi an 'evil woman' who 'did a poor job' in response to her retirement

Reporting by Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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