The Justice Department on Thursday issued a rebuke of Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiHoyer: House should vote on COVID-19 aid — with or without a bipartisan deal Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose at Supreme Court McCarthy threatens motion to oust Pelosi if she moves forward with impeachment MORE (D-Calif.) for engaging in what it called a “baseless attack” against Attorney General William Barr Bill BarrHarris faces pivotal moment with Supreme Court battle Hillicon Valley: DOJ proposes tech liability shield reform to Congress | Treasury sanctions individuals, groups tied to Russian malign influence activities | House Republican introduces bill to set standards for self-driving cars McCarthy threatens motion to oust Pelosi if she moves forward with impeachment MORE after she claimed he committed a crime by lying to Congress.



“Speaker Pelosi’s baseless attack on the Attorney General is reckless, irresponsible, and false,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement.



Earlier Thursday, Pelosi said in a press conference that Barr lied to Congress during April testimony on Capitol Hill.

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"What is deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That's a crime," Pelosi told reporters.

Pelosi’s remarks came a day after Barr delivered explosive testimony before the Senate during which he was repeatedly grilled on a March 27 letter in which special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE objected to the attorney general’s four-page memo describing his investigation’s conclusions.

Pelosi appeared to be referencing Barr’s earlier congressional testimony during which he indicated he was unaware of concerns from members of the special counsel’s team about his handling of Mueller’s report.

Barr wrote in his memo on March 24 that Mueller did not establish that members of the Trump campaign coordinated or conspired with the Russian government to interfere in the election, and that the special counsel did not come to a conclusion one way or another on whether President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE obstructed justice.

Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Rod RosensteinDOJ kept investigators from completing probe of Trump ties to Russia: report Five takeaways from final Senate Intel Russia report FBI officials hid copies of Russia probe documents fearing Trump interference: book MORE decided that the investigation laid out in the report was insufficient to accuse Trump of criminal wrongdoing.

On April 9, Barr was asked by Rep. Charlie Crist Charles (Charlie) Joseph CristFlorida Democrat introduces bill to recognize Puerto Rico statehood referendum Anna Paulina Luna wins Florida GOP primary in bid to unseat Charlie Crist The feds should not spend taxpayer dollars in states that have legalized weed MORE (D-Fla.) about reports that members of Mueller’s team were dissatisfied with his account of the investigation’s findings and believed they did not capture the gravity of the details on obstruction.

Barr said he didn’t know what they were referencing.

“I suspect that they probably wanted more put out, but in my view, I was not interested in putting out summaries or trying to summarize,” Barr said.

The letter first reported by The Washington Post on the eve of Barr’s Wednesday testimony showed that Mueller in late March complained that Barr’s memo “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office's work and conclusions” and created “public confusion” about the results.

Barr told lawmakers Wednesday that he called Mueller thereafter to discuss his complaints. He said Mueller said his letter did not mischaracterize the findings but expressed concerns about the resulting press coverage and asked Barr to release more from the report to provide more context.

Barr eventually decided against doing so, releasing a redacted version of Mueller’s full 448-page report three weeks later on April 18.