[R]ep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Wednesday executive privilege invoked by President Donald Trump will not stop House Democrats from seeking more information about how a question about legal citizenship status was added to the 2020 census.
“It won’t affect how Congress acts. In the House, the Democrats will continue to pursue the documents,” Welch, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, said in an interview Wednesday
The oversight and reform committee had planned Wednesday morning to vote on whether to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas related to the citizenship question.
If found in contempt, it would mean the committee chair could sue the Trump administration in federal court to have it comply with subpoenas.
The oversight and reform committee’s consideration whether to hold the attorney general and secretary of commerce in contempt of Congress came a day after the House voted 229-191 to authorize its committee leaders to pursue contempt cases against members of the administration to demand documents be handed over to oversight panels.
However, just as the committee was convening, Trump invoked executive privilege to keep the documents about the decision to add the census question secret. Committee chair Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., then postponed the vote until Wednesday night.
“It’s especially bogus in this case,” Welch said of Trump’s use of executive privilege. “The decisions around what questions go into the census, it’s not a question of executive privilege. The president should not be the one drafting those questions.”
“The executive privilege to me seems to have no place when it comes to congressional review of the census,” he added.
Despite the delays, Welch said he expects the committee to vote in favor of holding Barr and Ross in contempt of Congress Wednesday night.
In the letter sent to Cummings making him aware of the president’s plans to use his secrecy powers, the Justice Department said Trump had chosen to do so because of the committee chair’s decision to “go forward with an unnecessary and premature contempt vote,” the New York Times reported.
“These documents are protected from disclosure by the deliberative process, attorney-client communications, or attorney work product components of executive privilege,” the letter continues.
In May, the Justice Department moved to block the House Judiciary Committee’s access to special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Welch said this is another example of the president stonewalling congressional investigations, and continues the president’s pattern of secrecy and refusing to cooperate with authorities.
“With Trump basically repudiating the authority of Congress to do oversight, he’s putting himself above the law and beyond accountability, and that’s the path by which absolute power is concentrated into one person,” Welch warned.
