Nancy Pelosi says she would have held Corey Lewandowski 'in contempt right then and there'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, deserved to be held in contempt for his antics at a Tuesday hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.

“I would have held him in contempt right then and there,” she said according to a report from the Washington Post, which a Pelosi spokesperson confirmed was accurate.

“Speaker Pelosi agreed that his behavior was beyond the pale and contemptible,” said spokesperson Ashley Etienne. “The Speaker went on to say that he could have been held in contempt right then and there.”

As I reported Tuesday, Lewandowksi spent the hearing giving belligerent, disrespectful, and evasive answers to Democratic lawmakers. However, the committee managed to get him to confirm under oath that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's account of Trump pressuring him to help curtail the Russia investigation — events that provided "substantial" evidence of the crime of obstruction of justice — was largely accurate. And at the end of the hearing, a lawyer for the Democrats expertly grilled Lewandowski and exposed his lies and mendacity.

Lewandowski refused to answer many questions from lawmakers that were not directly addressed in the Mueller report, claiming an absurdly broad version of executive privilege exerted by the White House.

Pelosi's claim that Lewandowski should have been held in contempt — which Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) could still theoretically do — rings hollow. She has been holding Nadler back from moving forward aggressively with impeachment, even while he clearly wants to take on the president. And as leader of the House Democrats, Pelosi could have offered Nadler guidance about how to manage Lewandowski before the hearing. Instead, she seems to be content being a Monday morning quarterback.