Former US speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi has slammed former Australian prime minister Paul Keating's controversial remarks about Taiwan as "ridiculous".
Speaking to 7.30 last week Mr Keating described Taiwan as "Chinese real estate" and called for Australia to back away from what he deemed a dangerous alliance with the US, especially when it came to the AUKUS agreement.
"You don't want to get my description of him for saying that," Ms Pelosi told 7.30 in an exclusive interview.
"That's ridiculous. It is not Chinese real estate, and he should know that Taiwan is Taiwan, and it's the people of Taiwan who have a democracy there."
Ms Pelosi said that Mr Keating's comments went against the interests of the region.
"I think that was a stupid statement," Ms Pelosi told 7.30.
"I don't know what his connection is to China that he would say such a thing, but it is really not in the in the security interest of the Asia Pacific region for people to talk that way.
"It may be something he believes, but I think he's wrong."
Since entering congress in 1987 Ms Pelosi has been outspoken on human rights issues related to China, as well as on the issue of Taiwanese independence. She led a high-profile Congressional delegation to Taipei in 2022.
"We have a history of support for Taiwan for decades in the congress, it's bipartisan, Democrats and Republicans ... and it has been very strong in support of the democracy in Taiwan."
According to Ms Pelosi, Mr Keating's comments failed to understand the importance of maintaining free shipping routes through the Taiwan Strait.
"This is an economic issue, even if you had no view of the China-Taiwan situation, you know that China cannot tie up the strait there," she told 7.30.
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"Maybe he isn't aware of that, or doesn't care about that, but that's one of the big motivators for people to be interested in what happens there."
Mr Keating responded to the comments on Tuesday afternoon in a statement saying: "Both our countries believe it is in no one's interest for Taiwan to be subject of some sort of violent takeover.
"This is why I said on 7.30 last week that Chinese and Taiwanese interests will get resolved socially and politically over time."
Would have 'beat up' Trump
Ms Pelosi led the Democrats in the house for 20 years and in a new book, The Art of Power, she recounts her rise within the Democratic Party that was dominated by male leaders.
None of that history, however, prepared her for Donald Trump.
"Nothing could prepare anybody for a president who would cite an insurrection against the Congress of the United States, in the Capitol of the United States, against the Constitution of the United States," Ms Pelosi said.
Her memories of the mob which descended on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day Joe Biden's election victory was being certified, are painful.
"They brought danger, they brought disgrace," Ms Pelosi told 7.30.
"They brought defecation on the floor of the Capitol, the capital of the United States, a symbol of liberty and democracy to the world.
"They brought Confederate flags under the dome that Lincoln built when he was president of the United States, unifying the country by winning the Civil War. And what they did was completely outrageous."
The 84-year-old said she would have hit Trump if he had tried to enter the Capitol that day,
"If he came — as a matter of self-defence — I would have to beat him up, and I would probably have to go to jail for beating him up, and that would be OK with me."
Ms Pelosi holds the Republican leadership in Congress responsible for failing to turn their backs on Trump after the Capitol was attacked.
She has also been dealing with the aftermath of the brutal assault on her husband Paul, who was attacked with a hammer by a man who broke into their San Francisco home in October 2022.
The intruder was looking for her.
"When it happened, he [Trump], his children, Republican governors, other Republican leaders made fun of it," Ms Pelosi said.
"They thought it was really a laugh, they told jokes about it on their social media.
"That was disgusting, and that was directly from him … he's pathetic."
Ms Pelosi said that while she accepted she might be targeted with violence as a politician, it was not something the rest of her family signed up for.
"I signed up for this. My husband didn't, my children and my grandchildren didn't," Ms Pelosi told 7.30.
Republican party is a 'cult to a thug'
For Ms Pelosi, her purpose now is ensuring Trump does not win the election in November and return to the White House.
She played a pivotal role in the move to encourage Joe Biden to step down as the presidential nominee via a carefully worded statement on US cable news, when it seemed Mr Biden was not budging.
She told MSNBC's Morning Joe program: "It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short."
She told 7.30 she was of the belief that to win the election the Democrats had to change their campaign and the Biden campaign was floundering.
"We weren't on a good track in order to win," she said before adding that current Vice-President Kamala Harris had been doing a good job since being endorsed by Mr Biden.
"Kamala took advantage of it like that," Ms Pelosi said as she snapped her fingers.
"He endorsed her [and] she ran with the ball, with the grace, the dignity, the political astuteness, the strength of knowledge of the issues [and] the beauty of her faith-filled life."
For Ms Pelosi, it is imperative that Ms Harris wins the election to unify a fractured United States from the political style of Trump.
"You have to win to defeat that but to do so in a unifying way," she said.
"The Republican Party should take back their party. Their grand old party, did great things for our country, provided great leadership. Now they're a cult to a thug.
"We're not running against Bob Dole, Mitt Romney, George Bush senior, George W Bush. That was a different kind of race where you win, you lose, you negotiate, you go forward.
"This is something quite different, an assault on the democracy, on the Capitol, on the constitution, on the Congress of the United States.
"So, we must win that, but we can't become them in the fight."
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