Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MI) he said Commerce Section Wilbur Ross said Thursday he has “zero credibility” and should resign. Ross wanted to delay the March 14 hearing of House members, but the House Oversight Committee stuck to the original schedule, despite the secretary’s wishes. The hearing took place a month before the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding adding the citizenship issue to the list.
JUST IN: The Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding: #census2020 #civicquestion April 23 from 10:00 a.m. Eastern time #SCOT??pic.twitter.com/IxPcwPbMIg
— Hansi Lo Wang (@hansilowang) February 22, 2019
Representatives Mark Meadows (R-NC) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) suggested that the hearing was called solely for political reasons.
“I mean, I don’t know why the Democrats don’t want to know how many citizens are in the United States,” Jordan said. “But for some reason they focus on this issue. Maybe it’s about politics. For this reason, it seems clear to me that the majority is pushing for the politicization of the 2020 census.
Meadows added: “Many of the questions you will receive today have nothing to do with an exact count of the number of people here in the United States of America. Everything has to do with politics. And it all has to do with trying to make sure we get one specific message.
Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) stated that any oral affidavits submitted during the hearing would be fair in the context of upcoming Supreme Court arguments, even though D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) stated otherwise.
House Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings asked Ross whether he would withdraw his three previous testimony, stating that he sought to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census only at the request of the Justice Department. NBC reported that up-to-date evidence has emerged from the “multi-state lawsuit against Ross” that Ross was interested in adding the citizenship question earlier than he claimed.
“I answered truthfully to the best of my ability,” Ross told Cummings.
Ross stood by his statement that his motivation to address the citizenship question on the census was solely at the request of the Department of Justice.
“I have instructed staff to contact the Department of Justice to obtain a written statement confirming whether the Department of Justice intends to request reinstatement of the question,” Ross said. “I wanted to make sure we had enough time to properly consider any formal request that the Department of Justice might make.”
Cummings released A note on the day of the hearing, summarizing an interview between staff of the Committee on Oversight and Reform and John Gore, principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.
“In his prepared remarks,” CBS reported. “Chairman Cummings disclosed that John Gore, a Justice Department official, admitted that he received the agency’s draft request to the Department of Commerce to include a citizenship question in the 2020 Census by an unidentified member of the Trump transition team.”
“The note explains” – press release of the Supervisory Committee reads. “That Mr. Gore – under the direction of Justice Department lawyers – refused more than 150 times to answer questions from Democratic and Republican staff that are critical to the Committee’s investigation.”
Before the House committee went on a second break requested by Ross, Clay made accusations about Ross’s credibility.
“You lied to Congress, misled the American people, and are complicit in the Trump administration’s intentions to suppress the growing political power of non-whites.” – Clay he said. “You have zero credibility and in my opinion you should resign.”
