Trump Denies That Census Fight Is Over, But the Rest of His Administration Disagrees

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The Trump administration says it’s given up on the 2020 census citizenship question:

Word of the decision to give up the fight came initially in an email from a Justice Department attorney to lawyers who had challenged the administration in court….A Justice Department spokesperson subsequently confirmed the decision….In a terse statement, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross [said], “the Census Bureau has started the process of printing the decennial questionnaires without the question. My focus, and that of the Bureau and the entire Department is to conduct a complete and accurate census.”

But the head of the Trump administration says this is all fake news:

Before long Trump is going to stand in front of a podium wearing a red tie and yelling at the reporters that they’re enemies of the people for reporting that he’s wearing a red tie. He literally thinks he can just say anything he wants these days.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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