House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told members of her caucus in a closed-door meeting Wednesday that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee should have held former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in contempt “then and there” during Tuesday’s hearing.
According to Politico, some Democrats who attended the meeting took the comments as a swipe at Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who resisted a call to move towards contempt during the hearing. A Pelosi spokesperson insisted that the speaker solely meant her comments as “a critique of the witnesses’ behavior.”
Lewandowski stonewalled for the bulk of the hearing, ducking behind the specious protection of executive privilege even though he never worked in the White House, and gleefully refusing to answer the lion’s share of the Democrats’ questions. The Democrats’ attorney, Barry Berke, had better luck and was able to lead Lewandowski into admitting that he feels no compulsion to tell the truth to the media.
The two Democratic leaders are going in increasingly different directions on a related topic —President Donald Trump’s impeachment — creating a flurry of speculation that tension is building in their personal relationship.
