House Oversight To Vote On Contempt For Ross, Barr In Census Probe

[DonViejo]

Source: Talking Points Memo



By Tierney Sneed

June 3, 2019 4:02 pm

The House Oversight Committee will vote to hold Attorney General Bill Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in civil contempt for their defiance of subpoenas in the committee’s Census citizenship question investigation.

Chairman Elijah Cummings sent Barr and Ross letters Monday informing them the committee was scheduling the contempt vote.

The letters give the two officials one last chance to, by June 6, produce the documents the committee demanded.

The committee in April issued subpoenas for 11 key documents related to the decision to add the question. It also sought the testimony from Justice Department official John Gore, who was involved in writing a Justice Department request that the question be added. Gore sat down for a voluntary interview with the committee earlier this year but declined to answer certain questions on the instruction of the DOJ lawyer. The committee subpoenaed him for the full testimony, but he did not show up for the deposition on the instructions of the Department, which objected to the committee’s refusal to let a DOJ attorney sit in on the deposition.

Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/house-oversight-contempt-ross-barr-census

[beachbum bob]

1. until I see the vote, they are all hat and no saddle

[azureblue]

2. this "one more chance" makes me sick

What if it were one of us who brazenly defied a law and refused to show up in court? The judge would put out an immediate arrest order, without any delay. So why is Barr getting a second chance? Just find him in contempt and issue an arrest warrant today.

[stillcool]

3. this is a second contempt charge...

for Barr, correct? A different committee? I read that they are voting on a bunch of contempt charges on the same day. I can't imagine how a Barr arrest would go down, but I'd love to see it.

[dchill]

4. I'd love to see that, too!