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Previously undisclosed documents obtained by Common Cause in its North Carolina partisan gerrymandering lawsuit were filed today in the federal action challenging the addition a citizenship question to the 2020 Decennial Census. The documents, which were filed by the private plaintiffs in Department of Commerce v. State of New York, reveal for the first time the secret role played by the longtime Republican redistricting expert, the late Dr. Thomas Hofeller, in orchestrating the addition of the citizenship question and the Justice Department’s Voting Rights Act rationale for it. The documents further show that Dr. Hofeller concluded in a 2015 study that the citizenship question would significantly harm the political power of Latino communities and be “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.”   

Today, Common Cause urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify publicly before Congress so that the American people can hear in his own voice of the gravity of his findings and of the ongoing threat to the integrity of our elections from hostile foreign powers. The open letter to the Special Counsel emphasizes that very few Americans have had the time to read the dense and complex 448-page report and none have seen the underlying documentation behind the “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

Today, Common Cause called for immediate oversight hearings on reports that the Trump Administration is shifting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staff from its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to the border with Mexico. In letters to the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Common Cause urged Congress to ensure that DHS and all government agencies continue to devote necessary staff and resources to protect our election infrastructure in the wake of well-documented and continuing attacks on our election infrastructure by Russia and other hostile foreign nations.

Congress must hold former White House Counsel Don McGahn in contempt. McGahn’s refusal to testify is in deliberate defiance of a House Judiciary Committee subpoena, and he, and the White House, must be held to account. The Committee must move expeditiously to issue a contempt citation and the full House must follow suit in short order.

Congress is a coequal branch of government whether President Trump likes it or not. When the Administration refuses to comply with subpoenas, Congress must fulfill its oversight responsibilities through contempt citations if necessary. Attorney General William Barr’s conduct related to the release of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report has been reprehensible to date and the Department of Justice’s stonewalling and refusal to release the unredacted report and the underlying evidence to Congress by his department must be checked. The full House should quickly follow the Judiciary Committee’s lead and vote to issue a contempt citation to the Attorney General. Congressional tolerance of Trump Administration slow-walking of document and witness requests have only led to outright stonewalling and that deeply disturbing pattern must be ended now.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may not be interested in holding the White House accountable, but it is imperative that Congress do so. Not only is it not time to “move beyond” the damning findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, it is time for the White House to begin complying with all requests from Congress – as the U.S. Constitution requires of a coequal branch of government.