The House Oversight Committee plans to vote on issuing a subpoena to Attorney General William Barr for documents related to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images Congress House Oversight to vote on Barr, Ross subpoenas over census citizenship question

As it turns out, Congress’ first subpoena of Attorney General William Barr may have nothing to do with special counsel Robert Mueller.

The House Oversight Committee plans to vote Tuesday on issuing subpoenas to Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for documents related to Ross' decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.


Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is seeking a memo and note that James Uthmeier, of the Commerce Department's office of general counsel, wrote to Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Gore about the controversial query in fall 2017. Cummings is also seeking testimony from Gore, and wants lawmakers to see "[a]ll documents and communications from January 20, 2017, through December 12, 2017, within the Department of Justice and with outside entities regarding the request to add a citizenship question to the census, including but not limited to the White House, the Commerce Department, the Republican National Committee, the Trump Campaign, or Members of Congress."

Cummings on Friday urged Ross to agree by Monday to provide additional documents detailing why he added the citizenship question — the first of its type in 60 years — and complained in a letter that Ross has repeatedly snubbed the committee on document requests related to the matter. Cummings suggested the committee would consider forcing cooperation by subpoena during the committee's Tuesday meeting if the secretary does not agree to the terms of the letter.

The Oversight panel is also set to vote on a subpoena for congressional testimony from former White House Personnel Security Director Carl Kline, likely in relation to a committee probe into the controversy surrounding White House adviser Jared Kushner's clearance levels.

A federal judge ruled in January against asking about respondents' citizenship in the census, arguing doing so could potentially be discriminatory against non-citizens. The question has gone to the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on the issue early next month.

Ross has denied that the question was politically motivated and said he added it at the request of the Justice Department. House Democrats grilled the secretary during a hearing March 14 and strongly doubted Ross acted at the Justice Department's behest based on his past behavior pointing to a politically motivated agenda.

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"You have testified that you added the question 'solely' in response to a December 2017 request from the Department of Justice, but the record contradicts your claim, showing that you began orchestrating a campaign to add the citizenship question just days after taking office," Cummings' letter said.

Ross was elusive during the hearing, according to the letter, declining to provide certain documents and respond to several questions asked by the committee.

Cummings' letter stated the committee has been repeatedly shortchanged in its requests for documents that could elucidate the secretary's motivations for adding a citizenship question. Several emails provided to the committee were fully or mostly redacted, and the department said it had provided documents that the committee never received, the letter said.

Commerce argued the redactions were irrelevant to the committee's probe, but Cummings responded that the department's inconsistencies cast doubt on that claim. He said the committee will review some of the documents to determine if they are irrelevant on Monday.

A Commerce Department spokesperson said in a statement that the department "has cooperated in good faith with the Committee and will look to do so in the future.”

“The Department has delivered over 11,000 pages of documents pertaining to the Committee’s request and the Secretary himself voluntarily testified for nearly seven hours on these issues two weeks ago,” the statement said.

Ross also snubbed an invitation to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee this month for a routine probe into the department's finances, garnering indignant reactions from congressional Democrats.

“Secretary Ross: You’re not an investment banker anymore,” ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement.

Kyle Cheney contributed to this report