On 11 January, social media users shared a clip from the House of Representatives claiming that it proves that Nancy Pelosi is no longer the Speaker. This claim lacks context: the clip shows the name of a ‘Speaker pro tempore’, a temporary speaker, which is commonly used. It can be seen that Pelosi will act as Speaker again a day later.
The reports (here, here, here) show a video of the House of Representatives reading the following statement from the Speaker: “The speaker’s rooms, Washington DC, January 11, 2021. I hereby appoint the Honorable Debbie Dingell to to act as Speaker at a time on this day. Signed Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives. “Captions on the reports read:” Pelosi is no longer the Speaker of the House – 1/11/21 “or” 11 January 2021 Nancy Pelosi is no longer the Speaker of the House. “
This is an actual clip from a House Pro Forma session on January 11th, as seen in this C-SPAN video of the five minutes ten seconds here. Pro Forma means that no votes are held and that no formal business is expected (here, here).
The official transcript of the session, seen here, shows that what is happening in the video is the ‘appointment of the speaker pro tempore’, where a member of the House has certain duties, powers and functions of the Speaker in their absence accept (here).
Pelosi was still working on January 11: she released a statement on Republicans from the House blocking a request for Unanimous Permission to Appeal to the Vice President to Mobilize the Cabinet for the 25th Amendment to the President remove, activate, see www.speaker.gov/newsroom/11121.
Pelosi can be seen again on January 12 fulfilling her duties as Speaker of the House, the day after social media reported that she was no longer the speaker, in this CSPAN video here. In this Reuters video here, Pelosi can also be seen on January 12 giving a one-minute speech in the House, where she is introduced as Speaker of the House.
Examples of other times when Pelosi designated a pro tempore speaker can be seen in these CSPAN videos here, here and here.
VERDICT
Partly false. Nancy Pelosi did appoint Debbie Dingell as speaker pro tempore on January 11, but this is a general temporary appointment and does not involve Pelosi relinquishing her title. On January 12, Pelosi resumed her duty as speaker.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.