TO CLOSE

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Attorney General, William Barr, "lied to Congress" at a hearing on May 1 – an act that was not a technical detail but a crime.
UNITED STATES TODAY & # 39; HUI

Lock him?

Attorney General William Barr reportedly joked on Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., That he was handcuffed at the hands of an event in the honor of Order forces killed outside the Capitol.

"Madam President, have you brought your handcuffs?", Launched Barr in Pelosi, according to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Pelosi smiled and offered his own ironic answer. The weapons sergeant was present, if an arrest was necessary, said the top democrat to the Attorney General. Barr would have giggled and walked away, depending on the outlets.

More: Is there a Capitol prison where Democrats could lock up Trump aides who refuse to testify?

The exchange comes as tensions between House Democrats and the Trump administration continue to grow as a result of multiple requests for documents, testimony from Barr and other administration officials and former officials, and subpoenas issued by several congressional committees.

On Wednesday, the White House, in a 12-page letter to Jerry Nadler, Chair of the Judiciary Committee of the House, said it did not disclose the information requested by the panel as part of an extensive investigation into the presidency's President Donald Trump.

In the letter, White House lawyer Pat Cipollone wrote that the administration would not cooperate with the committee's request, saying that it "has no legitimate role" in investigations on the president. In addition, White House senior counsel said the demand had been overtaken by politically motivated lawmakers.

More: The White House said the Congress had no "legitimate role" in Trump investigations and rejected requests for documents

The Trump administration has recently increased lawmakers' requests for various types of information.

The House Judiciary Committee voted last week to impose a contempt on the Attorney General after Barr had refused to comply with a subpoena requesting an unredacted copy of the court 's investigation report. Special advocate Robert Mueller on Russia and underlying evidence.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., However, told reporters Wednesday that a vote in the House to hold Barr in contempt will not happen this month.

More: Democrats could hold AG Barr in contempt of Congress. What is it and can it really be used?

Last week, President Pelosi joked that she would put the administration officials who do not comply with subpoenas to appear in a "prison in the basement of the Capitol". According to the Capitol architect, several detention rooms have been used at various times. A room in the basement of the Capitol was used in 1877, according to the Congress report. The Capitol Police currently has a detention cell three blocks from the Capitol.

"Let me just say we have a prison in the basement of the Capitol," Pelosi said recently during an interview at a Washington Post Live event. "But if we arrested all the members of the administration, we would have an overcrowded prison, and I'm not for that."

Do you like what you read ?: Download the USA TODAY app for more

Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/15/ag-barr-speaker-pelosi-did-you-bring-your-handcuffs/3688072002/