Lock me up!
Attorney General William Barr kidded Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday about an impending vote to find him in contempt of Congress.
Barr approached the top Democrat at National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day event outside the Capitol, shook her hand and said loudly “Madam Speaker, did you bring your handcuffs?” a bystander told NBC News.
Pelosi — who will be scheduling the contempt vote against Barr in the House of Representatives — smiled, and indicated that the House Sergeant at Arms was present at the ceremony should an arrest be necessary, the bystander said. Barr chuckled and walked away.
The House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt last week for having refused to comply with a subpoena to provide Congress with an unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. It’s up to Pelosi to pick a date for a vote on the contempt resolution before the full House.
Barr also joked about the contempt resolution at a farewell ceremony for former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last week, where he said the job of being attorney general
“In those days, the deputy job was a lot different. But I’ll tell you now, the attorney general job is a lot different also. This must be a record, of an attorney general being proposed for contempt within 100 days of taking office,” Barr said with a smile.
