House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appeared to endorse the concept of activists unilaterally demolishing historical monuments during her weekly press briefing Thursday. When asked whether local councils or "a mob in the middle of the night" should remove monuments, such as statues of Christopher Columbus, Pelosi quipped, "People will do what they do." While the Speaker conceded that controlled removals would be good "from a safety standpoint," she said the demolitions do not necessarily have to go through representatives; "it just could be a community view."