U.S. House holds Barr, Ross in criminal contempt over census documents

By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt for defying congressional subpoenas related to the U.S. census.

The measure, which passed 230-198, was a response to the cabinet members' failure to produce documents requested by House Democrats as part of an investigation into whether the Trump administration attempted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census that would discriminate against racial minorities.

Four Democrats voted against the measure, while no Republicans supported it. Justin Amash, an independent congressman from Michigan who recently left the Republican Party, voted in favour of the resolution.

The criminal contempt vote against the two Trump cabinet members is likely to be little more than symbolic since the charges would be referred to Barr's Justice Department.

Still, the manoeuvre intensified a Democratic assault on President Donald Trump's stonewalling of congressional probes.

Earlier on Wednesday, Barr and Ross urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to delay the vote, saying she should "allow the constitutionally mandated accommodation process to continue."

"House Democrats never sought to have a productive relationship with the Trump administration, and today's PR stunt further demonstrates their unending quest to generate headlines instead of operating in good faith with our department," Ross said in a statement.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month blocked Trump's initial effort to add the citizenship question. He then planned an executive order to add it to the census, but later dropped the idea.

"Holding any cabinet secretary in criminal contempt of Congress is a serious and sombre matter - one that I have done everything in my power to avoid," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which is conducting the census investigation.

"But in this case, the attorney general and Secretary Ross have blatantly obstructed our ability to do congressional oversight into the real reason Secretary Ross was trying - for the first time in 70 years - to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census," he added.

Wednesday's vote marked the first time Trump administration officials have been held in criminal contempt of Congress since Democrats took control of the House in January. Prior to the vote there had been only one other instance in U.S. history of Congress holding a sitting cabinet official in contempt.

In 2012, congressional Republicans held then President Barack Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt over his refusal to produce documents relating to the "Operation Fast and Furious" gun trafficking investigation.

(Reporting by Sarah Lynch; writing by David Shepardson; editing by Dan Grebler, Diane Craft and G Crosse)