Pelosi pays up on Super Bowl bet as Cleaver predicts Chiefs championship repeat
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid up Tuesday on her Super Bowl bet with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and congratulated the Kansas City Chiefs on their win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Pelosi, D-California, gave Cleaver, D-Missouri, a gift basket full of California treats — Ghirardelli Chocolates, See’s Candies, almonds and pistachios — after the Missouri congressman won their Super Bowl wager. Cleaver had put barbecue from Gates on the line that the Chiefs would win.
“I was frankly sad that we lost. I was also sad that I wasn’t going to be enjoying some Kansas City barbecue. Maybe we can arrange something,” Pelosi said as she handed Cleaver a gift basket of California treats.
Cleaver, a former Kansas City mayor, skipped last week’s State of the Union address because it fell on the night before the Chiefs championship parade. Cleaver predicted that the Chiefs will repeat next year and celebrated the way in which the team had united the city during a time when the country’s politics are deeply divided.
“We had hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets last week. And nobody was concerned about whether somebody was a Democrat or Republican. They weren’t concerned about where they stood on impeachment,” Cleaver said.
“Man, sport is able to bring people together in ways only maybe music has done in the past. So beyond all the cheering and some gloating, I think sport is good for America.”
President Donald Trump said last week he expects the Chiefs to visit the White House in the near future. Cleaver said he would open to attending the visit, but cast doubt on whether he’d be invited after his vote to impeach Trump last year.
“I doubt if I would be invited, but I would probably go if the team goes. But I haven’t given a lot of thought to it because I don’t think he would invite me,” Cleaver said Tuesday afternoon.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 1:14 PM.
