June 12, 2019

Trump Really, Really Doesn’t Want You to Know Why He Wants a Citizenship Question

Brian Cahn/ZUMA

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Donald Trump is obviously terrified that anyone might find out why he really wants a citizenship question on the 2020 census:

President Trump on Wednesday asserted executive privilege to shield documents about the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census….Attorney General William P. Barr had a day earlier warned the House Oversight Committee that if it moved toward holding him in contempt, he would ask Trump to assert privilege to protect the materials….In the Justice Department’s view, the privilege assertion undercuts the contempt finding, because it prevents the attorney general from turning over materials lawmakers had subpoenaed.

This again? Surely this would fail in court, wouldn’t it? Documents are either protected by executive privilege or they aren’t. It’s not a weapon to be used simply to avoid a contempt charge. What am I missing here?

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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