Pelosi snaps at reporter in mafia-like stare-down when asked very legitimate question: 'Am I speaking English to you'

Nancy Pelosi told an ABC reporter to 'fuhgeddaboudit' after the former House Speaker was grilled over whether Joe Biden should stay in the race for the White House.

The veteran Democrat, who at 84 is older than Biden, drew on her Italian heritage to keep her questioner at bay following Biden’s shambolic performance in the first presidential debate.

After repeated attempts at side-swiping the questions, Pelosi let her fingers do the talking to demand omerta from the reporter.

‘Am I speaking English to you?’ she demanded as she snapped to a halt and pursed her fingers.  ‘I’m not going to be making any statements about any of that right now in the hallway.’

As House Speaker Pelosi was vital to securing Biden's legislative ambitions and he awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom two months ago

The long-time Biden ally is seen as one of the few in the party with the authority to persuade the president his time is up.

‘It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,’ she MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday. ‘We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.’

But the president had already insisted that he had decided to run, prompting speculation that Pelosi wanted him to think again, knowing that any attempt to force him out would split the party.

Her cryptic remarks set reporters scurrying after her and ABC’s Rachel Scott spotted her striding down a corridor on Capitol Hill.

‘Did you convey to President Biden what you said this morning?’ the reporter inquired.

‘I'm not having any discussions with you, or anyone else, about what I talk to the president about, with all due respect,’ Pelosi said. ‘I never do, so it’s nothing new.’

‘I understand Madam Speaker,’ Scott replied. ‘Do you believe that him waiting so long to make this decision..’

‘I'm not going to be making any comments today, in the hallway, about the fate of our nation, OK?’ Pelosi shot back.

‘Are you concerned whether or not he can win in November?’ Scott asked.

‘I think he can win in November,’ Pelosi responded with an icy smile.

Vermont Sen. Peter Welch on Wednesday became the first Democratic senator to call for President Joe Biden to quit his reelection campaign

Welch said the American public can't unsee President Joe Biden's disastrous presidential debate performance late last month  

‘Do you think he should run for re-election?’ Scott persisted as she tried to get a straight answer.

She may have been grateful that Pelosi’s only stilettos were on her feet as she saw the former House Speaker suddenly stop in her tracks, stare her down, and demand if she understood English.

The exchange raised hackles on social media with some accusing the veteran Democrat of talking down to the black reporter.

‘I know Nancy Pelosi didn’t look a Black woman in the face and say ‘Am I speaking English to you?’ tweeted black Republican Congressional candidate Laverne Spicer.

‘This is one of the most racist things she’s ever done and there’s a whole list of them!

‘Girl, you don’t have no business talking to a sista that way!’

Others had more sympathy for the elderly Democrat unable to escape her pursuer in a seemingly endless corridor.

‘Maybe it’s because she had to say something THREE TIMES, and you still proceeded as though you didn’t understand what she said?’ added another.

‘She would’ve said the same thing to a white person asking the same question,’ tweeted Mary Witkowski. ‘Nancy Pelosi is a pig to any conservative.’

The testy exchange came as Pat Ryan of New York became the eighth House member to call for Biden to exit the race.

‘I’d be doing a grave disservice if I said he was the best candidate to serve this fall,’ the Congressman said.

Pelosi said she had urged colleagues to keep their concerns to themselves until the president has finished hosting this week’s NATO conference

Pelosi's importance to Biden's decision was underlined by a series of interventions from Donald Trump on his Truth Social network on Wednesday night

And late on Wednesday Vermont's Peter Welch became the first Democratic senator to call for the President to quit his reelection campaign. 

But Pelosi told MSNBC that she is urging colleagues to keep their concerns to themselves until the president has finished hosting this week’s NATO conference.

‘I've said to everyone let's just hold off,’ she insisted.

‘Whatever you're thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don't have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week.’

And Pelosi’s potential importance in the outcome has not escaped the attention of Donald Trump who questioned her capabilities on his Truth Social network on Wednesday night.

‘Crazy Nancy Pelosi is a cognitive mess,’ he claimed. ‘She has now turned against Crooked Joe.

‘She’s really saying he doesn’t have what it takes.

‘Really? I’d love to debate her about what the Radical Left Democrats have done to ruin our country.

‘She wouldn’t last five minutes.’