The DOJ Won’t Prosecute Wilbur Ross for Giving a False Testimony to Congress
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will not bring charges against former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after a government watchdog found that he gave false testimony to Congress about the Trump administration’s failed effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
In a letter to congressional leaders that was released Friday, Commerce Department Inspector General Peggy Gustafson said that her office had provided evidence to the Justice Department that Ross had not been truthful in a pair of House committee hearings in 2018, but federal prosecutors declined to bring perjury charges against the former secretary.
“Our investigation established that the then-Secretary misrepresented the full rationale for the reinstatement of the citizenship question during his March 20, 2018, testimony before the House Committee on Appropriations and again in his March 22, 2018, testimony before the 2 House Committee on Ways and Means,” Gustafson wrote. “During Congressional testimony, the then-Secretary stated his decision to reinstate the citizenship question was based solely on a DOJ request.”
