President Trump has asserted executive privilege over census 2020 materials the House Oversight Committee is seeking from the Justice and Commerce departments.
The Justice Department informed the committee of the move as Democrats who lead the panel prepared to vote Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress for refusing to supply the information.
The move by the Justice Department is meant to make it easier for the Trump administration to prevail in court, which is where Democrats plan to take the case by voting on contempt.
“These documents are protected by the deliberative process, attorney-client communications, or attorney work product components of executive privilege,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd wrote to Cummings.
Democrats want to know the motivation for including the citizenship question in the upcoming census.
Cummings said the documents they seek include a 2016 “secret study” by a now-deceased GOP political consultant that shows Republicans would benefit from including the citizenship question.
