In an interview Friday morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the launch of an impeachment inquiry brings her no joy, that this is a "very sad time for the country," and that Attorney General Bill Barr has "gone rogue."

"He’s gone rogue," Pelosi said. "I think where they’re going is a cover-up of a cover-up."

She added: "Well, I think where they're going is a cover-up of the cover-up. And that's really very sad for them 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 was mentioned, that the Justice Department directed the Director of National Intelligence to take this to the White House."

"We have to put country before party very clearly in the public view," she said. "This is as serious as it gets when it comes to protecting the Constitution of the United States."

"I think we have to stay focused as the public is concerned. That the president of the United States used taxpayer dollars to shake down the leader of another country for his own political gain," she added.