NBC’s Chuck Todd was trying to ask minority leader Nancy Pelosi about the need for Democrats to take responsibility for their own failure in the 2016 election, instead Pelosi called for an FBI investigation of the President, suggesting that the Russians have something on Trump.

Todd introduced the question by playing a clip from a recent statement by Senator Elizabeth Warren. “The excuses end now,” Warren said. Asked how she would respond to Warren’s statement, Pelosi retreated to every Democrats’ favorite excuse: It was the messaging. “Well, I think she went on further to say it wasn’t about what we had done it was about how we did not message it,” Pelosi claimed. Chuck Todd, to his credit, pointed out this is the opposite of what Warren was saying. “No, she actually said the opposite. It’s not about a new set of talking points, it’s actually about policies that aren’t working for those folks,” Todd correctedl her.

At this point, Pelosi starts flailing badly. “Well the it…we…but…they have. What…let’s see the record,” Pelosi bumbled. “The record is that…what did we do? We bailed out the auto industry saving…so many jobs, millions when you take the indirect increase in jobs in that area,” she continued. “The Republicans at the time said this would be interfering with the free market system if we bailed out the auto industry. They were on their heels; they’re now on top of the world.”

Having run out of things to say about Democrats and the working class, Pelosi pivoted to the need for an FBI investigation of the president. “But let me just go back to the first part of the Senator’s statement. I want to know what the Russians have on Donald Trump,” she said. She continued, “I think we have to have an investigation by the FBI into his financials, personal and political connections to Russia and we want to see his tax returns so we can have truth in the relationship between Putin, whom he admires, and Donald Trump.”

Pelosi seems to be angling to take over the slot left by the recently departed Harry Reid, i.e. the leading Democrat who makes fact-free, partisan accusations about Republicans. And that’s definitely what Pelosi is doing here. She’s insinuating that the Russians have blackmail material on Trump and the FBI is needed to figure out what that something is.

Last month Pelosi called for an investigation to examine possible links between the Trump administration and Russia. However, she did not suggest at the time that the Russians had something they were holding over the president.

Here’s the interview. The statement about an FBI investigation comes about 1:20 in to this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUFth5FXQns