--- title: Nancy Pelosi Says William Barr Has 'Gone Rogue' description: "The facts changed the situation and they cannot be ignored." canonical: https://time.com/5687974/nancy-pelosi-william-barr-trump-impeachment-ukraine/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-09-27T14:59:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T07:27:25.655Z article:section: Politics og:title: Speaker Pelosi Says Attorney General William Barr Has 'Gone Rogue' og:description: "The facts changed the situation and they cannot be ignored." og:url: https://time.com/5687974/nancy-pelosi-william-barr-trump-impeachment-ukraine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d248f9f8c4a59c5/698a039697cdffe9276b99cc/nancy-pelosi-impeachment-inquiry-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Speaker Nancy Pelosi Holds Weekly Press Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Speaker Pelosi Says Attorney General William Barr Has 'Gone Rogue' twitter:description: "The facts changed the situation and they cannot be ignored." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d248f9f8c4a59c5/698a039697cdffe9276b99cc/nancy-pelosi-impeachment-inquiry-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nancy Pelosi Says Attorney General William Barr Has 'Gone Rogue' to Protect President Trump by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 27, 2019 2:59 PM UTC  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a weekly news conference on Capitol Hill on September 26, 2019 in Washington, DC. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a weekly news conference on Capitol Hill on September 26, 2019 in Washington, DC.Zach Gibson—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 27, 2019 2:59 PM UTC House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argued that [Attorney General William Barr](https://time.com/5687302/whistleblower-william-barr-impeachment-trump-justice/) has “gone rogue” in his attempts to protect President Donald Trump in the aftermath of a [whistleblower complaint](https://time.com/5681318/whistleblower-complaint-trump-foreign-leader/) that alleged Trump tried to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. Pelosi said Barr’s Justice Department was part of a “cover-up” attempt inside the White House during an interview on [MSNBC’s _Morning Joe_](https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe) on Friday. “He’s gone rogue,” Pelosi said of Barr. “Where they’re going is a a cover-up of a cover-up. I think it’s sad to have a Justice Department go so rogue. They have been for a while. Now it just makes matters worse.” The whistleblower’s complaint, which was released Thursday, included an allegation that Barr “appears to be involved.” The Justice Department has denied that Barr spoke with Trump “about having Ukraine investigate anything related to” Biden or his son, in a statement on Wednesday. > [](https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1177551124766875649) Pelosi’s comments came following her announcement on Tuesday that the House will open a formal [impeachment inquiry](https://time.com/5685325/impeachment-inquiry-donald-trump-democrats/) into Trump over his the content of his conversations with Zelensky. Democrats were hesitant for months to pursue an [impeachment inquiry against Trump](https://time.com/5685104/pelosi-impeachment-inquiry-trump-ukraine/), and took the step as more details about his call with the Ukrainian president emerged. “The facts changed the situation and they cannot be ignored,” Pelosi said Friday during the interview. “We weigh the equities—I never thought he was worth it.” Support among House Democrats for an impeachment inquiry has escalated in the last week, with now at least 221 members indicating they [support pursuing an investigation](https://time.com/5687380/house-support-trump-impeachment-inquiry/). Pelosi needs 218 votes to impeach Trump and send the case to the Senate. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5687974/nancy-pelosi-william-barr-trump-impeachment-ukraine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5687974/nancy-pelosi-william-barr-trump-impeachment-ukraine/"},"headline":"Nancy Pelosi Says Attorney General William Barr Has 'Gone Rogue' to Protect President Trump","datePublished":"2019-09-27T14:59:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T07:27:25.655Z","description":"\"The facts changed the situation and they cannot be ignored.\"","url":"https://time.com/5687974/nancy-pelosi-william-barr-trump-impeachment-ukraine/","keywords":["Congress","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d248f9f8c4a59c5/698a039697cdffe9276b99cc/nancy-pelosi-impeachment-inquiry-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d248f9f8c4a59c5/698a039697cdffe9276b99cc/nancy-pelosi-impeachment-inquiry-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Speaker Nancy Pelosi Holds Weekly Press Conference","caption":"Speaker Nancy Pelosi Holds Weekly Press Conference","creditText":"Zach Gibson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5687974/nancy-pelosi-william-barr-trump-impeachment-ukraine/","name":"Nancy Pelosi Says Attorney General William Barr Has 'Gone Rogue' to Protect President Trump"}}]}] ```