10 things you need to know today: June 13, 2019

Trump says he'd take dirt on 2020 rivals from a foreign power, House panel recommends holding Barr and Ross in contempt, and more

Trump in the Roosevelt Room
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

1. House panel recommends holding Barr, Ross in contempt

The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday voted to recommend holding Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas for information regarding the controversial proposal to add a question on respondents' citizenship to the 2020 census. Earlier in the day, the Department of Justice sent a letter to Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) saying that President Trump would assert executive privilege to shield materials on the matter from investigation. Democrats said they wanted to get to the bottom of evidence suggesting the Trump administration added the question to intimidate minority and immigrant communities. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) called the push for contempt charges "another act of political theater."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.