House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday claimed that U.S. Attorney General William Barr has “gone rogue,” in light of the Justice Department’s handling of a whistleblower complaint that prodded her to open a formal impeachment inquiry.

“I think where they’re going is a cover-up of the cover-up, and that’s really very sad for them,” Mrs. Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “To have a Justice Department go so rogue…well, they have been for a while.”

“And now it just makes matters worse that the attorney general was mentioned, that the president is mentioned and yet, the Justice Department directed the Director of National Intelligence to take this to the White House…unprecedented,” she said.

She said she felt “sorry” for Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, who testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

“I think that what he did broke the law,” she said. “The law is very clear - when this information comes [and] it’s deemed credible and an urgent concern by the inspector general, the Director of National Intelligence shall convey the information to Congress.”

A whistleblower alleging that President Trump used his office to try to get Ukraine to investigate a political opponent said that Mr. Barr appears to be involved in the scheme as well.

Intelligence community watchdog Michael Atkinson labeled the whistleblower complaint urgent, but Mr. Maguire resisted informing Congress after the Justice Department concluded that it didn’t rise to the level where lawmakers would need to be notified.

“It was not stonewalling, I did not receive direction from anybody,” Mr. Maguire testified to the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. “I have to comply with the way the law is, not the way some people would like it to be.”

He said the White House did not direct him to withhold information.

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