Nancy Pelosi Slams William Barr: 'He Lied To Congress' And 'That's A Crime'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is accusing attorney general William Barr of committing a crime by lying to Congress last month.

Speaking to reporters after Barr was a no-show before the House Judiciary Committee, Pelosi said Barr "lied to Congress.” She was referring to Barr’s statements on April 9 when he told lawmakers he wasn’t aware of special counsel Robert Mueller’s concerns about his four-page summary of Mueller’s 488-page report.

It was revealed on May 1 that Barr had received two letters from Mueller expressing the latter’s dissatisfaction with Barr’s summary. Dated March 27, the letters expressed Mueller's frustration Barr didn’t release the executive summaries prepared by the special counsel's team. Mueller said he first shared these concerns two days earlier, on March 25.

"That's a crime," said Pelosi said about Barr’s April 9 statement.

She accused an "arrogant" Barr of "misrepresenting and withholding the truth" from Congress.

Pelosi also said she lost sleep after watching Barr's testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding she later "connected the dots" linking Barr, senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and president Donald Trump.

The speaker called the three of them "right-wing ideological handmaidens -- they're handmaidens to the special interests in our country." She also blasted the trio as "anti-government, anti-science, and anti-meeting the needs of the American people."

Pelosi complained about Republicans frustrating the Democrat legislative agenda. She gave her own view of Wednesday's hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

"His sitting there in that arrogance," Pelosi said of Barr. "I don't care about your pre-existing condition. I care about the special interests in our country. That was the message of Barr. So the connecting of the dots between Mitch McConnell, the Republican agenda, and Congress, such as it is, the special interest agenda fueled by dark special interest money, that's what that hearing was about.”

"It wasn't about technicalities,” said Pelosi. “It wasn't about who wrote the letter and how he characterized the letter. That's interesting. But what is deadly serious about it is 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."

She insisted Barr “lied to Congress. If anybody else did that it would be considered a crime. Nobody is above the law, not the president of the United States and not the attorney general. Being the attorney general does not give you a badge to say whatever you want and it is the fact because you are the attorney general."

Democrats are now expected to take some form of action against Barr after he chose not to testify before the Democrat-dominated House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Barr’s no-show followed a dispute between House Democrats and Barr over whether Barr would publicly face questions from committee staff attorneys. Barr refused to do so.

The Department of Justice also told Nadler’s committee it wouldn’t comply with its subpoena for the full, unredacted report from special counsel Robert Mueller, said Nadler, who is threatening to cite Barr in contempt for doing so.

Nadler said if the Justice Department doesn’t comply in the next day or two, the committee will likely begin contempt proceedings against Barr over defying the subpoena for the full report.