NPR

Trump officials interfered with the 2020 census beyond cutting it short, email shows

The email details the scope of the former administration's attempts to tamper with the count, including pressuring the Census Bureau to alter plans for protecting privacy and producing accurate data.
Updated January 15, 2022 at 6:50 PM ET

Former President Donald Trump's administration alarmed career civil servants at the Census Bureau by not only ending the 2020 national head count early, but also pressuring them to alter plans for protecting people's privacy and producing accurate data, a newly released email shows.

Trump's political appointees at the Commerce Department, which oversees the bureau, demonstrated an "unusually" high level of "engagement in technical matters, which is unprecedented relative to the previous censuses," according to a September 2020 email that Ron Jarmin — the bureau's deputy

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR3 min read
Tornadoes Tear Through The Southeastern U.S. As Storms Leave 3 Dead
Forecasters warned a wave of dangerous storms in the U.S. could march through parts of the South early Thursday, after deadly storms a day earlier spawned damaging tornadoes and massive hail.
NPR6 min read
A New Face, And New Chapter, In R&B's Unstoppable Rap Makeover
Dallas singer 4batz rose from obscurity to a breathlessly awaited debut in barely a year — but his arrival is part of a tense exchange between hip-hop and R&B more than a decade in the making.
NPR3 min read
FTX Says It Will Return Money To Most Of Its Customers
FTX says that nearly all of its customers will receive the money back that they are owed, two years after the cryptocurrency exchange imploded, and some will get more than that.

Related Books & Audiobooks