Kirsters Baish| On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California claimed that Attorney General William Barr “lied to Congress.” She went on to insist that he had “committed a crime,” which prompted a brutal response from the Department of Justice.
During a Thursday morning press conference, the California Democrat insisted, “He lied to Congress. And if anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime. Nobody is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not the attorney general.”
Take a look:
Politico explains that Pelosi’s public comments were made after she reportedly told Florida Democratic Representative Charlie Crist during a private caucus meeting on Thursday, “We saw [Barr] commit a crime when he answered your question.”
Pelosi was talking about a hearing that took place on April 9, during which Crist questioned Attorney General Barr if he was aware what prompted the reports that “prosecutors on the special counsel team were frustrated with his initial summary,” Fox News reports. Barr answered that he had not known.
It was reported this week by the Washington Post, however that special counsel Robert Mueller had called Barr and penned him in order to “express concerns after Barr released his four-page summary of Mueller’s findings in March. Mueller pushed Barr to release the executive summaries written by the special counsel’s office,” Fox reports.
Fox explains:
However, according to both the Post and the Justice Department, Mueller made clear that he did not feel that Barr’s summary was inaccurate. Instead, Mueller told Barr that media coverage of the letter had “misinterpreted” the results of the probe concerning obstruction of justice.
When asked on Thursday if she felt Barr should be jailed for his alleged crime, Pelosi stated, “There is a process involved here and as I said, I’ll say it again, the committee will have to come to how we will proceed.
It was only moments before the DOJ came back swinging at Pelosi for her comments.
“Speaker Pelosi’s baseless attack on the Attorney General is reckless, irresponsible and false,” DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec explained to Fox News.
Fox reports:
Pelosi’s comments came as Barr boycotted a scheduled House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday. Barr objected after Democrats decided that their committee staff, rather than only members of Congress, would question Barr on his handling of the Mueller report. Justice Department officials said members should conduct the questioning, and said it was unclear why Democrats did not propose having staffers simply provide questions to the members during the hearing.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., slammed Barr and said he’s “failed” to do his job.
Jerry Nadler claimed, “He has failed to check the president’s worst instincts. He has not only misrepresented the findings of the special counsel, he has failed to protect the special counsel’s investigation from unfair political attacks. He has, himself, unfairly attacked the special counsel investigation. He has failed the men and women of the Department of Justice by placing the needs of the president over the fair administration of justice. He has even failed to show up here today.”
