House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Thursday morning accused Attorney General Bill Barr of committing a crime by lying to Congress in the weeks following the completion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
“What is deadly serious is that the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That’s a crime,” Pelosi said during a press conference on Capitol Hill.
Asked later if she believes Barr committed a crime, Pelosi replied, “He lied to Congress. And if anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime.”
“Nobody is above the law, not president of the United States and not the attorney general. Being attorney general does not give you a bath to go say whatever you want and it is the fact because you are the attorney general,” she continued.
When asked if she believes Barr should go to jail, Pelosi said that “there is a process involved here” and that the committees will determine how to proceed.
Pelosi did not specify what statements from Barr she considered to be lies, but she was likely referring to the attorney general’s testimony to Congress in early April that he was unaware how Mueller viewed his March 24 letter summarizing the report.
The Justice Department quickly hit back after Pelosi made the accusation.
“Speaker Pelosi’s baseless attack on the Attorney General is reckless, irresponsible, and false,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement.
