House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is pushing back on Attorney General William Barr’s rebuke of her previous remark, calling him a “blob” and a “henchman” for the president.
As MSNBC’s Ari Melber said the Trump administration has tried to “delay or defy oversight,” he asked Pelosi what House Democrats learned from Barr’s hearing on Tuesday.
“I don’t know that they learned anything, but it demonstrated to the American people the contempt that he has for our democracy,” the House speaker responded. She also said Barr has had “inconsistencies.”
She added, “I just thought he was despicable and so beneath the dignity of an attorney general.”
“Now, I did not watch the entire thing because I have my own work to do. But I did tune in to hear certain questions that I had an interest in his answers and they all related to upholding the Constitution of the United States. And he fell very short in that regard.”
See Pelosi’s remarks below (starting at 9:00):
Melber played a clip of Barr’s remarks on Tuesday where he rebuked Pelosi, as he said it is “irresponsible to call these federal law enforcement officers stormtroopers.”
In response to Barr’s comments, Pelosi said, “I said they acted like stormtroopers, and they did. And my colleagues have said that as well,” referring to her previous remarks on law enforcement agents in cities with civil unrest.
After referring to the controversial moment of protestors being cleared out of Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., Pelosi later added, “He was like a blob, he was like — just a henchman for the President of the United States instead of the Attorney General of the United States of America.”