WASHINGTON—Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi put an end on May 8 to the prospect of House Democrats using an obscure congressional power known as “inherent contempt” to jail Attorney General William Barr, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and other Trump administration officials who defy subpoenas to testify or provide documents.
Asked by Washington Post reporter Robert Costa if she favors holding Mnuchin in contempt and jailing him and other officials in the Capitol for refusing to give Congress President Donald Trump’s tax returns, Pelosi chuckled, then said:
“We do have a little jail down in the basement of the Capitol, but, if we were arresting all of the people in the administration, we would have an over-crowded jail situation. And I’m not for that.”
