Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 4 June 2019

House panel moves toward

contempt vote over documents

By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) —
House Democrats are mov-
ing to hold Trump adminis-
tration officials in contempt
of Congress for failing to
comply with subpoenas
for documents related to In this April 5, 2019, file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Protec-
the Trump administration's tion vehicle sits near the wall as President Donald Trump visits a
decision to add a citizen- new section of the border wall with Mexico in El Centro, Calif.
ship question to the 2020 Associated Press
census.Rep. Elijah Cum-
mings of Maryland, chair- Judge rejects
man of the House Over-
sight Committee, said the Congress' challenge of
panel will vote soon on
contempt measures for At-
torney General William Barr U.S. Attorney General William Barr, right, listens to concerns border wall funding
raised about public safety in rural Alaska during at a roundta-
and Commerce Secretary ble discussion at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium on
Wilbur Ross unless specific Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. By ELLIOT SPAGAT and COL- lative body could never
documents are received Associated Press LEEN LONG challenge the president in
by Thursday. WASHINGTON (AP) — A court over separation of
A contempt vote by the gress to conduct constitu- desperately and improp- federal judge on Monday powers.
committee would be an tionally required oversight. erly influence the Supreme denied a House request to "An old maxim in politics
escalation of Democratic "This cover-up is being di- Court with mere insinua- prevent President Donald holds that, 'Where you
efforts to use their majority rected from the top," Cum- tions and conspiracy theo- Trump from tapping De- stand depends on where
to aggressively investigate mings said, noting that ries," the spokesman said in fense Department money you sit,'" he wrote. "At law
the inner workings of Presi- Trump has vowed to fight an emailed statement.The for his proposed border too, whether a plaintiff has
dent Donald Trump's ad- all subpoenas issued by Supreme Court is consider- wall with Mexico, saying standing often depends
ministration. Congress and refused to ing the citizenship question Congress lacked authority on where he sits. A seat
The House Judiciary Com- work on legislative priorities, in a ruling expected later to sue. in Congress comes with
mittee voted last month to such as infrastructure, until this year. Trump's victory is muted by many prerogatives, but le-
hold Barr in contempt of Congress halts investiga- The committee approved a federal ruling in Califor- gal standing to superintend
Congress as part of a sep- tions of his administration. the subpoenas on the cen- nia last month that blocked the execution of laws is not
arate legal battle with the While Trump has suggested sus issue in April. Rep. Justin construction of key sec- among them."
Trump administration over that congressional subpoe- Amash of Michigan was tions of the wall. The Cali- The Justice Department
access to special counsel nas are partisan and some- the sole Republican to join fornia case was filed by welcomed the decision,
Robert Mueller's report on how related to the Russia with Democrats in the 23- the American Civil Liberties saying the judge "rightly
Russian interference in the probe, neither claim is true, 14 vote. Amash later said Union on behalf of the Sier- ruled that the House of
2016 election. Cummings said. "The sub- he supports an impeach- ra Club and Southern Bor- Representatives cannot
A vote by the full House poenas in this investigation ment inquiry against Trump. der Communities Coalition. ask the judiciary to take
would be required to hold were adopted on a bipar- Democrats say they want U.S. District Judge Trevor its side in political disputes
Barr and Ross in contempt tisan basis, and this inves- specific documents to de- McFadden, a Trump ap- and cannot use feder-
on the census issue. Such a tigation has nothing to do termine why Ross added pointee, wrote that the al courts to accomplish
finding would be a political with Russia," he said. the citizenship question to House's lawsuit was "about through litigation what it
blow but would not result in A spokesman for Ross said the 2020 census. They say whether one chamber of cannot achieve using the
real punishment since the the Commerce Depart- the Trump administration Congress has the 'constitu- tools the Constitution gives
men are unlikely to go to ment has worked in good has declined to provide tional means' to conscript to Congress."
jail or be arrested. faith with the committee the documents despite re- the Judiciary in a political Trump declared a national
Cummings said in a state- and delivered nearly 14,000 peated requests. turf war with the President emergency in February af-
ment that the failure of Barr pages of documents. Ross Ross told the committee over the implementation of ter losing a fight with the
and Ross to respond to the testified for nearly seven the decision in March 2018 legislation." Democratic-led House that
Oversight subpoenas was hours earlier this year. to add the question was McFadden said Congress led to a 35-day govern-
"part of a pattern" by the "To any objective observer, based on a Justice De- didn't have authority in ment shutdown and iden-
administration to engage it is abundantly clear that partment request to help this case but that he didn't tified up to $8.1 billion for
in a "cover-up" and chal- the committee's intent is it enforce the Voting Rights mean to imply the legis- wall construction. q
lenge the authority of Con- not to find facts, but to Act.q