'Testy' Nancy Pelosi calls journalist James Rosen 'Mr. Republican Talking Points' after his whistleblower question — and she gets taken to task

Journalist James Rosen of Sinclair Broadcast Group asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a whistleblower anonymity question Thursday, and things got a wee tense during the press conference.

"And so I wonder if you could explain to the American people why the legal rights of the whistleblower should prevail in this political setting over those of President Trump, who should ordinarily enjoy a right to confront his accuser," Rosen asked Pelosi.

And Madame Speaker didn't like that very much.

How did she respond?

"Well, let me just say this," Pelosi noted, her smile betraying her terse tone as she pointed at Rosen. "I'll say to you, Mr. Republican Talking Points, what I said to the president of the United States: When you talk about the whistleblower, you're coming into my wheelhouse."

She then recited her legislative resume: "I have more experience in intelligence than anybody in the Congress, anybody that's ever served, 25 years on the committee as top Democrat, ex officio, as Speaker and leader. I was there when we wrote the whistleblower laws. The whistleblower is there to speak truth to power and have protection for doing that. And any, any retribution or harm coming to a whistleblower undermines our ability to hear truth about power. So, I will defend the rights of the whistleblower vehemently, vehemently."

When Rosen pushed back, Pelosi said Trump can make his case to before those overseeing impeachment proceedings, adding that "the president is not above the law, the president will be held accountable, and nobody should have the right to endanger whistleblowers, and that is the system that I will defend, and the American people understand that."

How did Rosen react?

Rosen — a Fox News alum who was spied on by former President Barack Obama's administration — put together a report surrounding the issues he brought up at the press conference and said Pelosi "grew testy," "attacked" him, and resorted to "personal disparagement" in response to his question.

Here's Rosen's report:

What did observers have to say?

A number of commenters on Rosen's tweet weren't kind to Pelosi:

• "Knee-jerk reaction Alinsky RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
• "She's not a nice person if you ask a question that she doesn't want."
• "Obama spies on you, accesses your email, and the old bag with the flying monkeys fires an insulting remark?"
• "She's scared."
• "I watched as it happened today and had to pick my jaw up off the floor. She was way out of line. There was nothing at all wrong with your question or how you asked."
• "She not used to having real journalist ask her questions."
• "Seems she lacks confidence in her claims, and appeared unable to answer with any clarity. It was a question that should have been asked."

And after one commenter asked Rosen if "Mr Republican Talking Points" can be printed on the back of a jersey, Rosen gamely replied, "Maybe someday the Queen will confer knighthood on me, and I'll ascend to the rank of 'Sir Republican Talking Points.'"