WITHHELD

Trump Invokes Executive Privilege Over Subpoenaed Census-Question Documents

DOJ claims the subpoenaed materials are protected by attorney-client privilege, the deliberative process, and attorney work product components.

President Trump has asserted executive privilege to avoid giving Congress documents describing how the decision was made to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The Department of Justice penned a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Wednesday revealing Trump’s invocation, just as congressional proceedings began over whether to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for not complying with subpoenas. The DOJ says some of the subpoenaed documents contain information protected by attorney-client privilege, attorney work product, and deliberative communications, and that the House committee has ignored the Justice Department’s attempts to supply other non-privileged materials in lieu of those subpoenaed. The DOJ said it is willing to give a “significant number of additional documents” to the committee, but that the committee instead opted to continue with an “unnecessary and premature contempt vote.”