Cummings Threatens to Hold DOJ Official in Contempt of Congress If He Doesn’t Testify About Citizenship Question

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) warned Attorney General William Barr in a letter Thursday that if DOJ official John Gore doesn’t obey his subpoena and testify before the panel, they are prepared to hold him in contempt of Congress. The DOJ had previously informed Cummings that Gore will not appear unless he’s allowed to have an agency lawyer by his side.

“The Committee expects Mr. Gore to testify in accordance with the Committee’s lawful subpoena and the Committee’s rules,” Cummings wrote. “If Mr. Gore fails to comply with the subpoena, the Committee will consider him to be in contempt of Congress.”

Cummings indicated that the committee wants to glean information from Gore about the citizenship question that was added to the 2020 census under the direction of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The House Oversight Committee grilled Ross last month about the change, which he defended. Democrats like Rep. Jackie Speier (CA) asserted that Ross’s voting rights justification “was just a cynical pretext to trample on the rights of immigrants.” California was among the coalition of 17 states that sued the Commerce Department over the census change.

Conservative lawmakers, as you can imagine, have a whole different perspective. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) came out with a report today accusing Democrats of “fear mongering” and added that the campaign Cummings is leading against the citizenship question is a “partisan investigation.” (Read more from “Cummings Threatens to Hold DOJ Official in Contempt of Congress If He Doesn’t Testify About Citizenship Question” HERE)

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