Barr jokingly asks Pelosi: 'Did you bring your handcuffs?'

Bill Barr.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Attorney General William Barr is continuing to joke around about Democrats voting to hold him in contempt of Congress — this time mocking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) about it.

CNN's Manu Raju reports that Barr after a Capitol Hill event on Wednesday approached Pelosi and asked her, "Madam Speaker, did you bring your handcuffs?" Pelosi reportedly commented that the House Sergeant of Arms was present if necessary, and they both laughed.

The House Judiciary Committee last week voted in favor of holding Barr in contempt, although this still needs to be taken up by the full House of Representatives. Little is expected to actually happen should the House do so; Congress is able to jail those who don't comply with their subpoenas, but it hasn't since the 1930s, Vox reports. Some Democrats have called for this step to be taken, although Pelosi herself said that while "we do have a jail in the basement of the Capitol," if "we were arresting all of the people in the administration, we would have an overcrowded jail situation," Fox News reports.

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This is the second time Barr has cracked a joke about his contempt vote since it took place. He also made light of the situation during an event honoring former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last week, telling him, "You like records. This must be a record of an attorney general being proposed for contempt within 100 days of taking office."

The full House isn't expected to take up a contempt vote against Barr at least until next month, Politico reports. But while Pelosi might not really be getting the handcuffs ready, she has been repeatedly blasting Barr over the past few weeks, agreeing he should be held in contempt and also accusing him of committing a crime by lying to Congress. "Nobody is above the law," she said.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.