Sounds like I missed a bravura performance from Pelosi

I was on the road this morning so I missed "Meet the Press" but it sounds like Nancy Pelosi made a complete mess of her excuse-fest for John Conyers.  Hot Air: "Pelosi Chokes, Won’t Say That “Icon” Conyers Should Resign Over Settlement Of Harassment Allegations."

Allow me to focus just on this one evasion, via Patterico:

CHUCK TODD: Do you believe John Conyers’ accusers?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: I don’t know who they are. Do you? They have not really come forward. And that gets to —
CHUCK TODD: So you don’t know if you believe the accusations?
REP. NANCY PELOSI:  Well, that’s for the Ethics Committee to review. But I believe he understands what is at stake here and he will do the right thing.

But, wait, I've been told that women never lie about stuff like this.  Also: due process?  Conyers entered a settlement with one of his accusers, as Chuck Todd pointed out.  Nancy Pelosi is the first female Speaker of the House and her legacy will be using the "icon" proviso for John Conyers in exactly the same way Gloria Steinham advanced the "one free grope" rule for Bill Clinton:

The notorious 1998 New York Times op-ed by Gloria Steinem must surely stand as one of the most regretted public actions of her life. It slut-shamed, victim-blamed, and age-shamed; it urged compassion for and gratitude to the man the women accused. Moreover (never write an op-ed in a hurry; you’ll accidentally say what you really believe), it characterized contemporary feminism as a weaponized auxiliary of the Democratic Party.

Protect and - if necessary - service the right "icons."

Update - OMG, it's as bad as everybody characterized: