Pelosi on removing statues: 'It's not about Washington or Jefferson'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the debate on removing statues of men tied to the Confederacy should not be connected to Founding Fathers and former U.S. presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Pelosi has called for the removal of Civil War-era statues that mostly honor politicians who were registered Democrats with ties to the Confederacy. She also ordered the removal of portraits of four previous House speakers with Confederate ties. Three were Democrats and one was a Whig who later registered as a Democrat.

Protesters in Portland, Oregon, recently spray painted "colonist" and "BLM," for Black Live Matter on a statue of Washington, wrapped an American flag around it and set it on fire.

On Thursday, Pelosi was asked whether Washington and Jefferson, who had owned slaves, should be part of the removing statues and symbols conversation. 

"We took down the paintings of the speakers who were members of the Confederacy and there will be legislation coming forth to remove those same people who meet that low description – if you've committed treason against the United States of America. It's not about Washington and Jefferson. It's about Alexander Stephens. Read what he said about people," Pelosi said during a press conference. 

"It's about the president of the Confederacy whose statue is up there, who committed treason against the United States so that's the clarity that we should have," she also said.

The head of Washington's Mount Vernon has warned that “we will lose the story of the United States” by failing to honor Washington, adding that without the Founding Father and former U.S. president, "there would be no United States" or U.S. Constitution.