Nancy Pelosi accuses William Barr of lying to Congress

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused Attorney General William Barr of lying to Congress during his testimony to a Senate panel where he defended his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

“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 her weekly news briefing on Capitol Hill.

She said Barr’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday wasn’t about “technicalities” or how he characterized Mueller’s report in the four-page summary in which he said President Trump did not collude with the Russians or obstruct justice.

“He lied to Congress, he lied to Congress. If anybody else did that it would be considered a crime,” Pelosi said. “Nobody is above the law. Not the president of the United State and not the attorney general. Being the attorney general does not give you a bath to say whatever you want and it is a fact because you are the attorney general.”

The Justice Department in a statement called out Pelosi for her allegations.

“The baseless attack on the Attorney General is reckless, irresponsible and false,” the statement from spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said.

Pelosi was referring to Barr’s testimony at the House Appropriations Committee on April 9 when responding to a question about news reports that said members of Mueller’s team were frustrated with his findings.

“No, I don’t,” Barr said. “I suspect they probably wanted more put out.”

But Mueller had presented a letter to Barr three days after he released his summary on March 24, saying the attorney general “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of his report.