In an interview for the FRONTLINE documentary “Pelosi’s Power,” Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, discusses how Nancy Pelosi responded to Jan. 6.

“And everything that she knows in life, Jan. 6 upended: that a president of the United States, whether directly or indirectly, is responsible for an insurrection.”

Emanuel served as a U.S. representative (D-Ill.) from 2002 to 2008. He went on to be Obama’s chief of staff and then mayor of Chicago. He is currently the U.S. ambassador to Japan.

The following interview was conducted by FRONTLINE’s Michael Kirk on Nov. 11, 2021. It has been edited for clarity and length.

“Pelosi’s Power” premieres March 22, 2022.

This interview is being published as part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind our documentaries. Explore the transcript of this interview, and others, on the FRONTLINE website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/about-frontlines-transparency-project/

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