House Oversight votes to hold William Barr and Wilbur Ross in contempt

The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to hold both Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress for not complying with subpoenas for documents related to the Trump administration's controversial decision to add a question onU.S. citizenship to the 2020 census.

The committee passed the resolution by a vote of 24-15. Just one Republican, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, joined Democrats in voting yes. 

Cummings held off the vote until later in the day so members could review the Justice Department's explanation of President Trump'sinvocation of executive privilege. A letter from the DOJ announcing the invocation of executive privilege arrived shortly before the hearing began Wednesday morning. 

The Commerce Department has said the agency has already turned over "nearly 14,000" pages of documents requested by the House Oversight Committee. But before the vote, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the chair of the committee, complained that the "vast majority" of the documents provided by the document were already public. Many, he said, were "printouts from the internet." Others were heavily redacted.

Ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan denied the Trump administration was stonewalling and accused Democrats on the committee of not wanting to know how many citizens there are in the country. 

The subpoenas, Cummings said, have been outstanding for two months, and there were specific documents requested. He said agencies have made no commitments to produce the documents and made no counteroffers. These are not good-faith negotiations over accommodations, Cummings added.

 

More at CBSNews.com.


View Full Site