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The Department of Justice (DOJ) will not file a complaint against the former Secretary of Commerce Wilbur ross
Wilbur Louis Ross Department of Commerce unit gathered information on census workers and critics: report Former Trump officials find job market tough On the money: drop in retail sales in latest Sign of weakening economy Fast food workers strike for minimum wage | US officials concerned about Mexico’s management of energy permits MORE after a government watchdog discovered he had given false testimony to Congress about the Trump administration’s unsuccessful efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
In a letter to Congressional leaders released Friday, Commerce Department Inspector General Peggy Gustafson said his office provided the Justice Department with evidence Ross had not told the truth during a pair House committee hearings in 2018, but federal prosecutors declined to bring perjury charges against the former secretary.
“Our investigation established that the then secretary distorted the full rationale for reinstating the citizenship issue during his testimony on March 20, 2018, before the House Appropriations Committee and again in his testimony from the March 22, 2018, before the 2 House Committee on Ways and Means, “Gustafson wrote. “During testimony in Congress, the then secretary said his decision to reinstate the citizenship issue was based solely on a request from the Department of Justice.”
The letter was first reported by Government Executive media outlet.
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department’s Office of the Inspector General told The Hill that the DOJ under the Trump administration made the decision not to lay charges against Ross in January of last year.
A DOJ spokesperson was unable to comment immediately.
representative Carolyn Maloney
Progressive Carolyn MaloneyNY Bowman Introducing 6B ‘Green New Deal for Public Schools’ Overnight Health Care: Senate Budget Agreement to Provide New Funding for Medicare, Medicaid, ObamaCare | Over 2 Million People Register During ObamaCare’s Special Registration Period | Drug overdose deaths in the United States hit record high last year Watching Democrats launch investigation into Arizona GOP election audit MORE (DN.Y.), the chair of the House Oversight Committee, has vowed to continue investigating the Trump administration’s efforts on the citizenship issue, which she said were “to distort the census for political purposes. “.
The Independent Inspector General confirmed what the Oversight Committee found in our extensive investigation: that Secretary Ross misled Congress and the American people about the real motives behind the Trump administration’s illegal efforts to add a census citizenship issue, “Maloney said in a” Lying to Congress is unacceptable, and the IG has done the right thing by referring Secretary Ross’s conduct to the Department of Justice. “
Ross repeatedly insisted in 2018 and 2019 that the decision to add the citizenship question was based solely on a request for data from the DOJ to inform his efforts to enforce the Voting Rights Act (VRA ).
But in his Friday letter, Gustafson said there was evidence Ross had explored adding a citizenship question long before the Justice Department’s request in December 2017.
“However, the evidence shows that there were important communications related to the citizenship issue between the then secretary, his staff and other government officials between March 2017 and September 2017, which was good. before DOJ’s memorandum of request, “the letter from the Inspector General reads. The evidence also suggests that the ministry requested and played a role in drafting the memorandum from the Ministry of Justice. In addition, the then secretary sent a memorandum to the ministry on June 21, 2018, clarifying its deliberations regarding the ‘addition of a citizenship question to the decennial census. In this memorandum, the then secretary said he had started reviewing the content of the 2020 census, including reinstating the citizenship question, little soon after his appointment as secretary. ”
Ross, who years before his cabinet appointment in the Trump administration was the CEO and co-owner of The Hill’s parent company, News Communications Inc., could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Inspector General’s investigation was launched on June 27, 2019, the day the Supreme Court prevented the Trump administration from moving forward with its plan to add a citizenship question. Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the court’s four liberal justices in opposing the administration, wrote in the majority opinion that the evidence revealed “a significant gap between the secretary’s decision and the justification he provided “.
“Unlike a typical case where an agency may have both stated and unstated reasons for a decision, here the rationale for applying VRA – the only stated reason – seems to have been invented,” Roberts wrote. . “The reasoned explanation requirement in administrative law is intended to ensure that agencies provide real justifications for important decisions, reasons that can be examined by the courts and the interested public. The explanation provided here was more of a distraction. “
—Update at 6:16 p.m.
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