Attorney General Bill Barr trolled House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday when the two met face-to-face, asking the California Democrat if she brought her handcuffs to arrest him.
Barr reportedly approached Pelosi after the National Peace Officers Memorial Service in Washington, D.C., and asked her: “Madam Speaker, did you bring your handcuffs?”
“Today at a law enforcement ceremony at Capitol: AG Barr approached Pelosi, shook her hand: ‘Madam Speaker, did you bring your handcuffs?'” The New York Times’ Nicholas Fandos reported. “Pelosi smiled and, per a bystander, told Barr the House Sergeant at Arms was there should an arrest be needed. Barr laughed; walked away.”
“The quip was a reference to the calls from some rank-and-file Democrats for Barr himself to be arrested, amid the fight over access to Russia probe documents,” Fox News reported. “The House Judiciary Committee voted last week to hold Barr in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s unredacted Russia report and underlying materials, as President Trump asserted executive privilege to protect those same files from release.
Fox News’ Jake Gibson confirmed the report, tweeting: “Attorney General Bill Barr spoke to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in person today, after the National Peace Officers Memorial Service at the Capitol. A source close to Barr says he asked Pelosi if she had brought her handcuffs. There was laughter but no word on Pelosi’s response.”
ABC News’ John Parkinson also confirmed the report, tweeting: “Source confirms AG Barr approached @SpeakerPelosi at National Peace Officers Memorial Service, shook her hand + said loudly ‘Madam Speaker, did you bring your handcuffs?’ Pelosi smiled and indicated to Barr the House Sergeant at Arms was present should an arrest be necessary.”
“He lied to Congress. And if anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime,” Pelosi claimed without evidence last month. “Nobody is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not the attorney general.”
But as Fox News noted, The Washington Post later reported that Special Counsel Robert Mueller contacted Barr about Barr’s letter to Congress and said that while he was concerned about the media coverage, he did not believe that Barr’s summary of the report was inaccurate.
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