The Justice Department announced on Thursday that it would ignore more subpoenas for documents related to the controversial move to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
According to Politico, “Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said the documents the panel subpoenaed are protected by attorney-client privilege and therefore cannot be disclosed.”
In a letter to Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, Boyd said, “[T]he committee’s insistence that the department immediately turn over these documents … is improper.”
As MSNBC’s Ari Melber pointed out on Thursday, “This could set up a different contempt vote for Mr. Barr. The full House is scheduled to vote to hold Barr in contempt next Tuesday already.”
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Bill Barr’s Justice Department announced on Thursday that it would ignore more subpoenas for documents. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/Y2X3lJTa9M
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) June 6, 2019
The Oversight and Reform committee has been looking into the move to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, and new evidence shows that the administration covered up the fact that the push was politically motivated.
Bill Barr is a disgrace to the Justice Department
As PoliticusUSA’s Jason Easley noted on Monday, “The House will vote next Tuesday (June 11) to hold Attorney General William Barr and former White House Counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress.”
Next week’s contempt vote is related to Barr’s absolute refusal to turn over the unredacted Mueller report and its underlying evidence – a matter completely separate from Thursday’s latest act of defiance from the lawless attorney general.
While the contempt citations are different, they are both just the latest examples of how William Barr has been a disgrace to the Department of Justice and the rule of law.
Any bipartisan respect Barr had before his latest stint at the Justice Department has evaporated as he has completely sold his soul to Donald Trump.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
