July 24, 2021
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary misled Congress about why he sought to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, according to an investigation from the Office of Inspector General, but Trump’s Justice Department decided not to prosecute.
The watchdog agency’s probe showed that Wilbur Ross misrepresented the reason for adding a citizenship question to the census questionnaire during two appearances before House committees in March 2018, according to a letter sent last week to congressional leaders by Inspector General Peggy Gustafson.
It is a federal crime to make false statements before Congress. The results of the inspector general’s investigation were presented to the Justice Department during Trump’s administration, but department attorneys declined prosecution in January 2020. The Department of Justice on Monday declined to comment.
secretario de Comercio bajo la presidencia de
Donald Trump engañó al Congreso sobre la razón por la que quería añadir una pregunta de ciudadanía al Censo de 2020, de acuerdo con una investigación de la
Oficina del Inspector General. Sin embargo, el Departamento de Justicia actual ha decidido no procesarlo.
Wilbur Ross tergiversó la razón para añadir la pregunta de ciudadanía al cuestionario del censo durante dos comparecencias ante comisiones de la Cámara de Representantes en marzo de 2018, mostró la investigación de la agencia de acuerdo con una carta enviada la semana pasada a los líderes del Congreso por parte de la
Trump official misled Congress about census citizenship question - probe
By David Shepardson
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A watchdog agency found that former Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross misrepresented the reasons for wanting to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, and the Trump administration declined to prosecute him, a probe showed on Monday.
In a letter dated Friday, Commerce Department Inspector General Peggy Gustafson said Ross congressional testimony in March 2018 misrepresented the full rationale of the question when he said it was driven by a Justice Department request to aid in enforcing the Voting Rights Act.
A spokesman for Gustafson s office said the Justice Department made its decision to decline prosecution of Ross in January 2020, when Donald Trump was president. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment when asked Monday if it would revisit that decision.
AP
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President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary misled Congress about why he sought to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, according to an investigation from the Office of Inspector General, but President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has decided not to prosecute.
The watchdog agency’s probe showed that Wilbur Ross misrepresented the reason for adding a citizenship question to the census questionnaire during two appearances before House committees in March 2018, according to a letter sent last week to congressional leaders by Inspector General Peggy Gustafson.