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Census Fight Grows as House Panel Recommends Contempt for Cabinet Members, Trump Asserts Privilege | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
WASHINGTON — Congress clashed with President Trump on Wednesday over its efforts to investigate how a citizenship question was added to the 2020 census, as a House committee voted to recommend that two cabinet secretaries be held in contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with the probe. | |
Retaliating in advance, the president invoked executive privilege to block disclosure of crucial documents, intensifying his feud with lawmakers over their efforts to hold him and his administration accountable. | |
The House Oversight and Reform Committee’s vote to recommend holding Attorney General William P. Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was the culmination of a monthslong dispute with the administration over the panel’s efforts to compel testimony from top officials and documents related to the census question. The vote was mostly along party lines, with only one Republican, Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, supporting it. | |
It was the latest front in an escalating conflict between Mr. Trump and the Democratic-led House over the Constitution’s separation of powers, as lawmakers step up their attempts to use their congressional majority to hold the president accountable and the executive branch moves to defy them. The fight could ultimately result in a lengthy court battle over the ill-defined line between those powers. | |
At issue on Wednesday was a politically fraught battle over the Oversight Committee’s attempts to investigate the Trump administration’s decision to ask 2020 census respondents whether they are citizens, an issue that has gone all the way to the Supreme Court. The court is expected to decide the legality of the question within weeks. | |
Democrats have charged that the move is a politically motivated attempt by Republicans to intimidate noncitizens and ultimately depress responses from people of color, leading to less representation for communities that tend to vote for them. | |
Ahead of the contempt vote, the Justice Department informed Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the committee chairman, that Mr. Trump had decided to invoke his secrecy powers because Mr. Cummings had “chosen to go forward with an unnecessary and premature contempt vote.” | |
“We must protect the integrity of the census, and we will stand up for Congress’s authority under the Constitution to conduct meaningful oversight,” Mr. Cummings said, calling the privilege claim “another example of the administration’s blanket defiance of Congress’s constitutionally mandated responsibilities.” | “We must protect the integrity of the census, and we will stand up for Congress’s authority under the Constitution to conduct meaningful oversight,” Mr. Cummings said, calling the privilege claim “another example of the administration’s blanket defiance of Congress’s constitutionally mandated responsibilities.” |
“This begs the question,” Mr. Cummings added: “What is being hidden?” | “This begs the question,” Mr. Cummings added: “What is being hidden?” |
At the White House, Mr. Trump defended his administration’s push to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census: “When a census goes out, you should find out whether or not — and you have the right to ask whether — somebody is a citizen of the United States,” he said as he met with Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda. | At the White House, Mr. Trump defended his administration’s push to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census: “When a census goes out, you should find out whether or not — and you have the right to ask whether — somebody is a citizen of the United States,” he said as he met with Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda. |
But in an Oversight Committee meeting on Capitol Hill, Democrats demanded to see the deliberations behind the question, and they pointed to Mr. Trump’s declaration months ago that he intended to defy all congressional subpoenas. In the census investigation, they said, the administration had provided little more than unresponsive documents and stonewalling of critical deposition requests. | But in an Oversight Committee meeting on Capitol Hill, Democrats demanded to see the deliberations behind the question, and they pointed to Mr. Trump’s declaration months ago that he intended to defy all congressional subpoenas. In the census investigation, they said, the administration had provided little more than unresponsive documents and stonewalling of critical deposition requests. |
“It is indeed laughable” to say that the administration had cooperated with the panel, said Representative Stephen F. Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, brandishing a blacked-out page with no text visible as an example of the heavily redacted material the Commerce Department had sent. “We’ve reached our limit.” | “It is indeed laughable” to say that the administration had cooperated with the panel, said Representative Stephen F. Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, brandishing a blacked-out page with no text visible as an example of the heavily redacted material the Commerce Department had sent. “We’ve reached our limit.” |
In separate letters from the Justice Department and the Department of Commerce, administration officials maintained they had already turned over many materials in response to the subpoena, but that they had to keep certain information confidential to protect the candor of internal and attorney-client deliberations. Still, both officials made it clear that the privilege assertion was in retaliation for the panel’s insistence on issuing contempt citations for Mr. Barr and Mr. Ross. | In separate letters from the Justice Department and the Department of Commerce, administration officials maintained they had already turned over many materials in response to the subpoena, but that they had to keep certain information confidential to protect the candor of internal and attorney-client deliberations. Still, both officials made it clear that the privilege assertion was in retaliation for the panel’s insistence on issuing contempt citations for Mr. Barr and Mr. Ross. |
“The Department regrets that you have made this assertion necessary by your insistence upon scheduling a premature contempt vote,” the letter from the Commerce Department said. | “The Department regrets that you have made this assertion necessary by your insistence upon scheduling a premature contempt vote,” the letter from the Commerce Department said. |
The Justice Department also sent Mr. Cummings a memo to Mr. Trump from Mr. Barr arguing that the executive branch had a “strong interest” in keeping the materials secret to protect its ability to perform its functions, while Congress had not established that obtaining the information was critical to its “legitimate legislative functions.” | The Justice Department also sent Mr. Cummings a memo to Mr. Trump from Mr. Barr arguing that the executive branch had a “strong interest” in keeping the materials secret to protect its ability to perform its functions, while Congress had not established that obtaining the information was critical to its “legitimate legislative functions.” |
[Read the letter to Congress, along with a letter to Mr. Trump from Mr. Barr.] | [Read the letter to Congress, along with a letter to Mr. Trump from Mr. Barr.] |
The standoff was the latest move in an intensifying confrontation between House Democrats and Mr. Trump, who has vowed to fight “all” their oversight investigation subpoenas. It increased the prospects that the fight will end up in a prolonged legal battle. | |
There are few precedents in that area of the law to provide definitive guideposts about where to draw the line between Congress’ oversight power and the president’s authority to keep information secret because past disputes have largely been resolved through negotiations and accommodations, so the matter never reached the Supreme Court. | |
But Mr. Trump’s unabashed vow to fight House Democrats’ efforts to scrutinize his actions and those of his administration across a range of fronts — including seeking disclosure of his hidden tax returns, how some of Mr. Trump’s associates obtained security clearances, and underlying evidence from Robert S. Mueller III’s inquiry — have raised the prospect of litigation that is appealed all the way to the highest court, providing a clearer understanding of the law but running out the clock on Mr. Trump’s term. | But Mr. Trump’s unabashed vow to fight House Democrats’ efforts to scrutinize his actions and those of his administration across a range of fronts — including seeking disclosure of his hidden tax returns, how some of Mr. Trump’s associates obtained security clearances, and underlying evidence from Robert S. Mueller III’s inquiry — have raised the prospect of litigation that is appealed all the way to the highest court, providing a clearer understanding of the law but running out the clock on Mr. Trump’s term. |
The House voted on Tuesday to authorize the Judiciary Committee to file a lawsuit asking a judge to order the executive branch to comply with two subpoenas related to the Mueller investigation, and explicitly empowering committees to file such litigation over other subpoenas without votes of the full House. But to date the House has not voted to hold any Trump official in contempt of Congress. | The House voted on Tuesday to authorize the Judiciary Committee to file a lawsuit asking a judge to order the executive branch to comply with two subpoenas related to the Mueller investigation, and explicitly empowering committees to file such litigation over other subpoenas without votes of the full House. But to date the House has not voted to hold any Trump official in contempt of Congress. |
The fight over the census centers on liberals’ suspicions that asking respondents to say whether they are American citizens could be a deliberate ploy to tilt the every-10-years reapportionment of House seats, shortchanging areas with higher levels of immigrants. They fear that undocumented immigrants or members of their families would be afraid to turn in their questionnaires, resulting in a population undercount. | The fight over the census centers on liberals’ suspicions that asking respondents to say whether they are American citizens could be a deliberate ploy to tilt the every-10-years reapportionment of House seats, shortchanging areas with higher levels of immigrants. They fear that undocumented immigrants or members of their families would be afraid to turn in their questionnaires, resulting in a population undercount. |