The White House responded to the House voting to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt with a tantrum and bogus cries of executive privilege.
After the House voted 230-198 to hold Barr and Ross in contempt, the White House responded, “Today’s vote by Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats to hold Attorney General Barr and Secretary Ross in contempt is ridiculous and yet another lawless attempt to harass the President and his Administration. The Departments of Justice and Commerce have produced more than 31,000 pages of documents to the House regarding the census issue, and senior officials from both agencies, including Secretary Ross, have spoken on the record about the matter. Instead of accepting the numerous good-faith efforts of accommodation the Departments have made, Democrats continue to demand documents that are subject to executive privilege. House Democrats know they have no legal right to these documents, but their shameful and cynical politics know no bounds.”
The White House is engaging in crybaby antics while playing the victim and offering bogus claims of executive privilege as reasons why they refuse to comply with the law and turn over documents about their decisionmaking process on their efforts to add a citizenship question to the Census.
To the best of my knowledge, this marks the first time that two cabinet-level officials have been held in contempt with the same resolution. The vote gives the House Oversight Committee the power to take action against Barr and Ross for defying congressional subpoenas. It is unusual for one cabinet official to be held in contempt. It is unprecedented for two to be held in contempt.
Trump is setting all sorts of records, and most of them are related to corruption in his administration.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
