An April 26 Washington Times article reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “did not attend the briefing” that Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, held during his April 25 visit to Capitol Hill. The article noted that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) “said the speaker normally receives individual briefings,” but then uncritically quoted House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) saying Pelosi met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, but “somehow can't find the time to meet with the American general in charge of our troops fighting the global war on terror.” The article did not note, however, that Pelosi's staff reportedly said that the speaker had “requested a one-on-one meeting with Petraeus but that could not be worked out,” and that Pelosi and Petraeus had spoken on the phone for 30 minutes.

The April 26 article was at least the third instance in which the Times forwarded a Republican talking point attacking Pelosi since she became speaker of the House.

As Media Matters for America noted, in the days following House passage of a Democratic minimum wage increase in January, the Times repeatedly reported Republican accusations that the bill, the Fair Minimum Wage Act, showed favoritism to a company in Pelosi's district. The Times reported the Republican talking point that the bill exempted American Samoa from the minimum-wage increase because Del Monte Corp. is headquarted in Pelosi's district and owns one of American Samoa's largest employers, StarKist. In doing so, the Times allowed to stand the suggestion that Pelosi's support of this bill stems from Del Monte's interest. In fact, Pelosi -- and the Republican leadership when it controlled Congress -- supported several versions of the Fair Minimum Wage Act since it was introduced in 1999, three years before Del Monte bought StarKist. Each version included a wage increase for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands but not for American Samoa. On January 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, and 23, the Times reported the Republican accusations but did not report that each version of the Fair Minimum Wage Act exempted American Samoa.

Similarly, in reports on the use of military aircraft to fly Pelosi to and from her district, the Times reported assertions made by anonymous “sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration” to support the article's claim that Pelosi was “seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation.” In fact, as Media Matters noted, the Office of the Sergeant at Arms inquired about the size of the plane for Pelosi for security reasons, and the advantage for security purposes of her having access to planes that could fly cross-country without refueling. A February 7 Times article cited “congressional and administration sources” claiming that Pelosi was trying to “get the big aircraft she wants.” The Times claimed that one of the planes Pelosi was requesting was a C-32, a military version of the Boeing 757. In fact, as Media Matters noted, on the February 8 edition of MSNBC's The Most, NBC News congressional correspondent Mike Viqueira reported that “no one here can confirm that she's actually asking for a 757.” In a report later in the day, Viqueira stated: "[T]here's really no evidence that Pelosi specifically asked for ... this 757."

Further, in a February 20 article, The Tampa Tribune reported that House Republican Conference chairman Adam Putnam (FL), the third-ranking House Republican, “acknowledges he had no personal knowledge” of a purported request by Pelosi to use a military jet. Yet in the February 7 Washington Times article, Putnam was quoted saying, “Pelosi's request represents 'an arrogance of office that just defies common sense' and called it 'a major deviation from the previous speaker.' ” As the Tribune noted in response to Putnam's assertion on Fox News that Pelosi's supposed request was “about an arrogance of extravagance that demands a jumbo jet that costs $22,000 an hour to operate to taxi her and her buddies back and forth to California,” "[T]here's no evidence Pelosi requested any such thing."

From the April 26 Washington Times article:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, did not attend the briefing. Mr. Hoyer said the speaker normally receives individual briefings.

Mr. Boehner, however, criticized Mrs. Pelosi's absence.

“It is shameful that while our troops wake up every morning and courageously face death in defense of our freedom, the politicians in charge of Congress can't even find the time to meet face to face with their commander,” the Republican leader said.

Mr. Boehner noted that Mrs. Pelosi met with President Bashir Assad of Syria, “a state sponsor of terrorism,” but “somehow can't find the time to meet with the American general in charge of our troops fighting the global war on terror.”