The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress on Wednesday for defying the panel’s subpoenas for documents about the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The vote came hours after President Donald Trump moved to block Congress’ access to the subpoenaed documents by asserting executive privilege.
Trump issued the broad privilege claim at the urging of the Justice Department as the committee was beginning the contempt proceedings Wednesday morning against Barr and Ross for failing to comply with the panel’s subpoenas, which were issued in April.
“These documents are protected from disclosure by the deliberative process, attorney-client communications, or attorney work product components of executive privilege,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote in a letter to House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.)
“Regrettably, you have made these assertions necessary by your insistence upon scheduling a premature contempt vote,” Boyd added.
Boyd’s letter came just minutes before the committee convened to vote on civil and criminal contempt citations for Barr and Ross. Talks between the Justice Department and the committee broke down late Tuesday night after both sides exchanged last-minute offers that would have staved off the contempt votes.
Read the rest of the story HERE and follow links below to related stories/opinions:
Trump: ‘Totally ridiculous’ to have census without citizenship question
Trump Asserts Executive Privilege over Docs Related to Citizenship Census Question
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