Leahy recalls Clint Eastwood quip

Calling all investigative reporters — Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) jests that he could have a sordid past that includes a stint in juvenile court.

While discussing his plan to reintroduce the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act during remarks last month to students at Georgetown University Law Center, Leahy said, “It’s an area we can provide a lot more assistance, a lot more help than those who say that, ‘Well, we can’t afford to do that.’ [They] obviously have not spent time in a juvenile court, as I have.”

To laughter from the crowd, Leahy, 72, quickly added, “I want to hasten to explain. I was there as a prosecutor, not as a — I wasn’t there as a juvenile.”

He then cracked, “Because I never got caught.”

The lawmaker wasn’t the only jokester at the event. He also shared a story of an exchange he had with “Dirty Harry” star and last year’s Republican National Convention celebrity speaker Clint Eastwood, while the two were at the Smithsonian.

“I was standing next to [Eastwood] for the photograph. And the photographer says, ‘Everybody move a little to their right,’ ” Leahy explained. “Eastwood leaned over to me and said, ‘Patrick, easy for me, not so easy for you.’ ”

---