Pelosi on Saying 'President Trump': 'It's Hard'

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that an independent commission still needs to probe Russia's interference in last year's presidential election.

She also said the difference between Trump and past Republican leaders is the president’s lack of respect for facts, and acknowledged "it's hard" to say "President Trump."

“We have been able to work in a bipartisan way with Republicans in Congress and Republican presidents,” Pelosi told a friendly audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

“And we always were able to make some success in negotiation, progress in negotiations, if we stipulated to a set of facts, evidence, data. ... If you are not going to stipulate to a set of facts, it will be very hard to make progress.”

Trump, she said, set the tone from his first meeting with congressional leaders shortly after he was sworn in.

“We sat down to have a discussion and the first thing the president said was, ‘Do you know I won the popular vote?’” she recalled. “I said there’s no evidence to support that and it wasn’t true. Normally I would be a little more respectful.”

But, Pelosi later added, “I don’t know how much respect he has for the job. That’s why I feel I can speak frankly to him. He’s casual.”

The minority leader covered a wide range of topics during the hour-long discussion. She got laughs on several lines, including when she responded to KQED Senior Politics and Government Editor Scott Shafer's comment, "I notice you never say President Trump."

"It's hard," Pelosi quipped.

She also got chuckles when Shafer asked her about recent comments that being pro-choice can't be a litmus test for Democrats. 

Pelosi, an Italian Catholic, said she has "some strong credentials in this regard."

"When you have five children in six years, you come talk to me," she said. "They say, 'Nancy, she thinks she knows more about having babies than the Pope.'"

On more serious topics, the minority leader rejected fears that American democracy is under threat, saying that the nation's checks and balances continue to protect it.

“I know the greatness of countries come and go, but America is so different. There’s never been a country founded on the principle that all people are equal,” she said.

Pelosi called on Trump to release his tax returns, saying it would "unlock the door" to answer many other important questions.

"My ongoing question, since he wants to talk this way, is what do the Russians have on Donald Trump, personally, politically, financially?" she said.

"Let's see your tax returns so we can see if there's any connection there. They may be exculpatory of the president, but if they are, why isn't he showing them?"