JUST IN: House Oversight Committee votes to recommend full House hold Attorney General Bill Barr and Commerce Sec. Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress.
The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to recommend the full House hold Attorney General Bill Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress, after President Donald Trump asserted executive privilege over materials related to the committee's census investigation.
House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings has accused both the DOJ and Commerce Department of stonewalling his investigation by withholding documents and preventing witnesses requested by the committee from testifying on the issue. “We also now have evidence that President Trump’s advisers began discussing the citizenship question long before he took office,” Cummings said. “After the inauguration, President Trump discussed the idea with his top White House aides, Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, who in turn pressed it with Secretary Ross.”
Boyd also addressed criticism from the committee on the DOJ blocking testimony from John Gore, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the civil rights division. The department contends that Barr had only instructed Gore not to testify after the committee declined the department's request to have counsel accompany him in his transcribed interview.
The contempt vote comes just days after Barr reached a separate agreement with House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler regarding his request for underlying documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
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