On most days, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempts to position herself as the tough but calm and controlled counterweight to President Donald Trump, who many Republicans applaud for being confrontational and unpredictable.
On Thursday, the country's top elected Democrat allowed her anger to show when a Sinclair Broadcast reporter she previously referred to as "Mr. Republican talking point" asked whether she hated Trump.
Pelosi had just finished methodically spelling out how she was advancing impeachment proceedings against Trump while shepherding legislation such as a bill to lower prescription drug costs.
After reporter James Rosen asked his question, she indignantly told him: "Don't mess with me."
"I don't hate anybody," Pelosi declared. "I was raised in a Catholic house. We don't hate anybody. Not anybody in the world. So don't you accuse me," she said, pointing at the reporter.
Sinclair Broadcast Group is a conservative-leaning media company that Trump has tweeted support for. It owns or operates nearly 200 U.S. television stations.
Rosen told Pelosi he posed the question because some Republicans say the Democrats' impeachment effort is driven by a dislike of Trump. The Republican president has blasted the inquiry over his dealings with Ukraine as a hoax.
Pelosi used her answer to tear into Trump, calling him a "coward" for refusing to get behind gun control measures, "cruel" for abandoning young immigrants known as "Dreamers" who were brought to the United States illegally as children, and for being "in denial" about climate change.
The first woman to serve as speaker of the House, Pelosi is in her 17th term in Congress. She has long demonstrated a willingness to play hardball with Trump, including over government funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, infrastructure investments and his dealings with Russia.
During her initial stint as speaker from 2007 until 2011, Pelosi earned a reputation as a hard-charging leader who demanded allegiance from her troops, even on contentious issues such as 2009 legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change.