Trump takes aim at Pelosi's hometown legacy
But at an event in the city on Thursday, Pelosi said the agency was protected under an act of Congress — and she accused Trump of creating a flurry of distractions to draw attention from an unpopular Republican proposal to cut social safety-net programs.
'I'm saying this to say, 'We're here to talk about Medicaid, Mr. President,' Pelosi said as she slapped a paper on the table. 'We will not be distracted with other things. He called himself a king the other day. Really? King of what? Anyway, the emperor has no clothes as far as I'm concerned.'
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's call for cuts to the Presidio Trust was widely viewed as an act of political retribution to one of the president's fiercest rivals. Pelosi in the 1990s led the effort to create a federal agency to manage what's now a hilly waterfront oasis covered by historic buildings, green meadows and eucalyptus trees.
The president's executive order, which also targeted three other independent agencies he identified as 'unnecessary,' might actually have little effect on the trust's operations. It calls for eliminating the agencies' 'non-statutory' functions — and the Presidio Trust was not only created by Congress, but it's almost entirely self-funded.
It does, however, require a detailed accounting report to be submitted to Trump's Office of Management and Budget within two weeks.
On Thursday, during an event Pelosi hosted on proposed GOP cuts to Medicare, the former speaker stressed that the agency was enshrined in federal law so it 'would be protected from assaults over time' and that the act was approved by a bipartisan group of lawmakers when Republicans held the majority.
Marie Hurabiell, a former member of the Presidio Trust, shared the former speaker's sentiment, saying initial reports about Trump's executive order incorrectly suggested he had 'eliminated' the trust by executive order.
'It's not going away, it cannot be eliminated by one person,' Hurabiell said.
The move — part of an unprecedented push by the president and his allies to dismantle the federal bureaucracy — put San Francisco leaders on edge.
'He's not just targeting the trust. He's not just targeting Speaker Pelosi. He's targeting all San Franciscans,' said city Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, whose district includes the park and its nearly 3,000 residents.
The Presidio Trust is unlike other national park sites as its operations are almost entirely self-sufficient. The agency has raised money by renovating and leasing dozens of former Army structures which now house offices, museums, rental housing, a bowling alley, gift shops and event spaces.
Budget records state the trust forecasts an operating surplus of $46 million for the current fiscal year, and hasn't received annual appropriations from Congress since 2013.
However, Pelosi helped the trust secure $200 million from the Department of the Interior in 2022, as part of the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, to pay for infrastructure and climate-resilience projects. Some congressional Republicans want to claw the money back, though the trust said most of it has been allocated.
Former Mayor Willie Brown, a longtime power broker in the city, predicted that Trump will continue the attack regardless of the Presidio's statutory protections.
'He doesn't worry about the results,' Brown said. 'Just the headlines are important to him.'
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