House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) on Wednesday was asked what she thought about some Democrats raising the prospect of arresting Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, prompting her to say, "We do have a little jail down in the basement of the Capitol."
Pelosi sat down with Washington Post reporter Robert Costa at one of the newspaper's Washington Post Live events, where she discussed multiple House investigations, including President Donald Trump's tax returns. Costa brought up a New York Times report from Tuesday about Trump's tax returns from 1985 to 1994, revealing his business lost over a billion dollars during that timeline. He then asked her what this information revealed about Trump.
"Nothing new," Pelosi said. "He is the President of the United States. We are going to try to get some work done with him, but we do have a responsibility to our own oath of office, to protect and defend the Constitution, to do just that."
She then said Trump's tax returns should be handed over to Congress, prompting Costa to ask how far House Democrats can go. He asked if Mnuchin could be held in contempt, adding that Democrats have suggested he should be arrested.
"We do have a little jail down in the basement of the Capitol, but if we were arresting all of the people in the administration, we would have an overcrowded jail situation and I'm not for that," Pelosi said.
"So it's probably going to be settled in court? Tax returns?" Costa asked.
"We'll see what the chairman announces because that's the way we do it," Pelosi said.