AG Barr and Commerce Secretary Ross have until Thursday to turn over material related to the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census or face another contempt vote.
June 3, 2019

This criminal enterprise that has set up shop in our Executive branch seems likely to be held in contempt of Congress for yet ANOTHER flouting of the law. Nicolle Wallace announced the breaking news this afternoon that the House Oversight Committee will hold a vote on Thursday to hold Bill Barr in contempt for not turning over documents related to the addition of a question on the 2020 census about citizenship.

WALLACE: We have ourselves some breaking news from Capitol Hill. The House Oversight Committee has just announced that it will move forward in holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress. That vote scheduled for Thursday as related to the addition of a citizenship question in the 2020 U.S. [census]. Jeremy, you've got a lot of time spent, time logged on Capitol Hill. What is going on up there? Is this the incrementalism of looking at every action, every effort to stonewall Congress, and trying to offer some sort of proportionate response?

BASH: This is the committee chairmen and Chairman Cummings of the Oversight Committee, trying to put pressure, additional pressure on the Justice Department, on the Treasury Department to provide information to Congress about why a citizenship test was added to the census, which is something that would obviously undermine the ability of non-citizens to be counted for everything that we account for in society, including welfare services, access to medical care, access to police support, everything. So, this is part of the investigations that are moving forward. I think Nancy Pelosi's vision here is not to rush forward to impeachment, but let each committee, Judiciary, Oversight, Intelligence, Financial Services, and others conduct investigations and develop the factual predicate.

Well, if that is Speaker Pelosi's approach, the Oversight Committee is certainly enough material to work with in order to do its part, though I sure wish it would do its part 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, like the Republicans did with the non-existent Benghazi scandal.

This is in addition to the vote to hold Barr in contempt for not having turned over all the documents related to the Mueller report, which they'll hold at the end of the month. Absolutely mind-boggling, a Justice Department that will not comply with subpoenas. According to Politico,

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Gore appeared before the committee behind closed doors earlier this year, but he refused to answer lawmakers’ specific questions about the citizenship question, prompting Cummings to issue the subpoena. Gore later skipped a deposition before the committee after the Justice Department blocked him from attending.

"The tactics of this cover-up are now clear,” Cummings added. “The administration has been challenging Congress’ core authority to conduct oversight under the Constitution, questioning the legislative bases for congressional inquiries, objecting to committee rules and precedents that have been in place for decades under both Republican and Democratic leadership, and making baseless legal arguments to avoid producing documents and testimony.”

This administration treats Congressional subpoenas like bat mitzvah invitations from unpopular girls. They don't even respond. They just ignore them and laugh in their faces.

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