First it was the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. Now the Dems on the Oversight Committee, led by Elijah Cummings, are piling on and threatening to hold both AG Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt:
Oversight Cmte informs Barr & Commerce Sec Ross it “is scheduling a vote to hold you in contempt of Congress..relating to the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.” No date for contempt is set. But cmte wants compliance with subpoena by June 6
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 3, 2019
The Oversight Cmte doesn’t assign a date to the contempt markup for Barr and Ross. So, at the earliest, such a contempt markup would happen next week. This also signals that the full House would probably consider the contempt citation(s) for Barr (and maybe others) in late June
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 3, 2019
It was reported at the end of April that the Supreme Court was signaling to the Trump administration that it may side with them regarding the addition of a citizenship question to the US census.
I’m not sure exactly what Cummings has subpoenaed, but he’s probably hoping to find some nefarious reason for the Trump administration wanting this added to the census, something that can be used against the Trump administration in this fight.
Of course, Cummings is calling this part of the “one of the most unprecedented cover-ups since Watergate”. You can read this letter below if you like:
House Oversight Committee announced that Chair Cummings is prepared to move to a contempt vote if DOJ and the Commerce Dept. don’t comply with subpoenas re: info about the 2020 Census by Thursday (once the committee votes, it would then move to the full House for a vote) pic.twitter.com/kSN5WwdR5e
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) June 3, 2019