At a private meeting with Democratic legislators on Wednesday evening, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski should have been held in contempt “then and there” for refusing to answer questions before the House Judiciary Committee. Unfortunately, Pelosi is making this statement after the fact, and after Lewandowski spent a day stonewalling, mocking, and generally insulting the committee while skipping away apparently scot-free.
Though House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler opened the hearing with sharp words—making it clear that Lewandowski had never been a White House staffer, there was no reason to entertain any claim of privilege, and the campaign manager was compelled by law to answer every question—there seemed to be precious little action to support those stern warnings. Throughout the hearing, Lewandowski went made Democratic representatives cite, down to the line, where something he had said appeared in the report of special counsel Robert Mueller. Then he would pretend to read the report—even when the words being cited were referred to again just minutes later. When not pretending to read, Lewandowski openly mocked Democratic representatives, including responding to a question about whether he kept all his notes in a vault by noting that it was a large vault with “a lot of guns in there.”
Mid-hearing, after it became abundantly clear that Lewandowski was never going to deliver anything but sneers, both Rep. Eric Swalwell and Rep. David Cicilline appealed to Chairman Nadler to hold Lewandowski in contempt. But in response, Nadler only stated that he would “take it under advisement.” With that out of the way, Lewandowski seemed free to be even more insulting in his responses to Democratic representatives, and even more free to join Republicans in extended conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton and President Obama.
It’s still possible that Nadler could issue a motion to hold Lewandowski in contempt, especially after the final session of questioning by consulting attorney Barry Berke prompted Lewandowski to open his mouth and refute his own past statements. But the overall impression left by the day-long hearing was one of weakness on the part of Democrats. Pelosi seems to be saying, Don’t blame me.
As Politico reports, Pelosi’s “then and there” statement was easy to read as a criticism of Nadler, though one of her spokesmen denied that this was the case. But it’s clear that there remains friction between the speaker and the Judiciary Committee chair. Pelosi didn’t want the impeachment inquiry, and Nadler’s somewhat convoluted inquiry into whether to have an inquiry didn’t please her from the outset. So it wouldn’t be surprising that Pelosi might throw a jab Nadler’s way, if only to demonstrate that she was right all along, and that this not-quite-an-impeachment thing was already backfiring.
On the other hand, it’s also very possible to read Pelosi’s statement as a signal to Nadler: If you’re going to do this, go all-in. The worst possible thing that Democrats can do is hold a half-hearted series of hearings that allow witnesses to laugh at the committee while Republicans use the event to both campaign for 2020 and spread conspiracy theories.
If Pelosi is actually signaling that she would back Nadler in the application of inherent contempt to immediately bring recalcitrant witnesses to heel … maybe the next hearing will be different.