Trump Admin Reverses Course On Census Citizenship Question After Trump Contradicted Officials On The Issue; Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) Discuss The Trump Administration On Citizenship Question; Trump Admin Reverses Course On Census, Citing Trump Tweet; Trump Admin Reverses Course On Census Citizenship Question In Bid To Appease Trump; Trump Defends Plan To Show Off Military At July 4th Event; Trump Misleads On The Cost Of July 4th Event; Sources Say Military Chiefs Fear It Will Be Politicized
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Our deepest, deepest condolences to his family and to his friends. Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, breaking news, a major reversal. The Justice Department ordered by the President to reexamine putting the controversial citizenship question back in the 2020 census and it's all because of a tweet. Plus, the President defending his July 4th extravaganza as the backlash and the price tags continue to grow. One lawmaker now suggesting the payment plan is illegal. He's my guest. And Biden blindsided, the former vice president raising $21 million but it wasn't enough to beat one unexpected candidate. Let's go out front. OUTFRONT tonight, good evening, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan in for Erin Burnett. We have breaking news, census chaos. The Justice Department reversing course after the just reversed course on the 2020 census. Just a short time ago, the Justice Department told a judge that they're now looking for a way to include the controversial citizenship question, just after they decided yesterday to start printing the questionnaire without the question. Are you following me? Is your head spinning? It should be at this point. It is all because of this tweet from the President today. He tweeted the following, "The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or to state it differently." The President says, "FAKE. We are absolutely moving forward as we must because of the importance of the answer to the question." Only thing, there is nothing fake about the reports. The Justice Department even admitted it to the federal judge today saying, quote, the tweet this morning was the first I had heard of the President's position on this issue. One attorney said, "Just like the plaintiffs and Your Honor." This justice attorney went on to say, "I do not have a deeper understanding of what that means at this juncture other than what the President has tweeted." According to The Washington Post, the President hated the idea that it appeared he had thrown in the towel on the fight over the citizenship question, caved on any issue, especially one that he has been railing against for months.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's very important to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal. They're not allowed to ask whether or not somebody's a citizen of the United States. How horrible and ridiculous is that? Can you imagine you send out a census and you're not allowed to say whether or not a person is an American citizen.</s>BOLDUAN: Pamela Brown is out front live outside the White House for us tonight. Pamela, what more are you learning about this sudden reversal from the administration and please remind folks why this is so controversial. So Kate, this is a truly stunning course reversal. The President's tweet today clearly caught a lot of people off guard, including officials of its own administration. It cause chaos as officials tried to grapple with how to square what the government told the court just yesterday that the census will not include the citizenship question. And then what the President tweeted today that his administration hasn't given up the quest to include that question. Now, Maryland federal judge convened in the hearing today after seeing the President's tweet that contradicted the government's position and gave the DOJ lawyers a whip lashing. One of the lawyers, DOJ lawyer, said that the President's tweet was the first he had heard of the President's position and that he was trying to get his arms around this fluid situation. Nonetheless, Kate, the judge reprimanded the DOJ lawyers for the sudden shift and suggested they don't speak for the client. The President, of course, is unclear what exactly prompted the President's tweet but a White House official says there have been discussions about a path forward. What that path is though is unclear after the Supreme Court hold on the question for now and the census printing has already begun. Kate.</s>BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And all of this comes down to critics of this question being put on and say it's directly targeting minority communities, immigrant communities and trying to suppress the representation in the census which equals millions of dollars, redistricting and the balance of power panel. Pamela, thank you so much. Out front with me now Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona. Congressman, thanks for being here.</s>REP. RAUL GRIJALVA (D-AZ): Thank you so much.</s>BOLDUAN: I was looking, of course, on Twitter. At 11:15 this morning, Congressman, I saw you were celebrating on Twitter the fact that the administration had dropped the fight for the citizenship question and was moving on, at least it appeared. That was this morning. What do you say now?</s>GRIJALVA: Well, I thought that the lead counsel, the Senior Counsel for Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, Mr. Saenz said it best, the administration is now doubling down on stupid. And I think the plaintiffs are in a strong position, the fact that the opinion from Supreme Court in holding and leaving the question out of citizenship, said that the rationale that the administration had seemed contrived. After the Secretary Ross lied to Congress as to the motivation behind it. I think the strength is still there and the federal judge, this is going to proceed forward. The President has obviously embarrassed by the fact that he couldn't get his way. This is the Supreme Court and contempt of not following an order has consequences. And the consequences are that to continue to play this, to continue to try to milk as much political capital as you can out of this question is a big mistake. The Supreme Court has held it. It shouldn't appear in there and at the end of the day, that's what's going to happen. But this whole drama that he's created, this uncertainty he's created even within his own ranks at the Justice Department, I think is another sad chapter of dysfunctional. One hand doesn't know what's going on, but it's it's already been clearly decided. I'm very confident that this whole exercise by Trump is going to go nowhere.</s>BOLDUAN: The President on Monday was asked why it was so important to him to include the citizenship question. I want to remind viewers what he said.</s>TRUMP: I think it's very important to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal. They're not allowed to ask whether or not somebody is a citizen of the United States. How horrible and ridiculous is that? Can you imagine you send out a census and you're not allowed to say whether or not a person is an American citizen?</s>BOLDUAN: I'm not sure what the President says. I mean what he was talking about is it's important to find out if someone is a citizen as opposed to illegal and he talks about Democrats in some of his remarks about this. I'm not sure he's making any different case than the one that the Supreme Court actually just shut down. But we do know that the President supporters are in lockstep with him on this. How do you convince them otherwise, Congressman?</s>GRIJALVA: This nation and the census which is part of the counting of the people of this nation has been going on and it's been going on to count every resident in this nation without prejudice and with confidentiality. That's been the story. I think the motivation behind it is pretty simple, is to isolate groups to diminish their importance, politically and otherwise. And I think the President, this is to me has always been a voter suppression issue. It's always been an issue that's xenophobic from the beginning as to who's been targeted. The sense about all residents and that's the way it should be. My father was a green card holder for much of his life and he lived in this country and work. He was counted and he should be counted. He's a taxpayer. He's helping raise a family in this country, a family of citizens and a family unit. Why should they be left out and why should any resident of this country be left out? It's way the President is trying to intimidate, suppress the count and in suppressing the count, he also affects political representation in this country.</s>BOLDUAN: We're now hearing, at least one Justice Department attorney was saying to the federal judge in this, I mean saying that the tweet was the first time they'd heard about the President's position and also even acknowledging - this attorney says, "I'm doing my absolute best to figure out what is going on." I mean, it really sounds like chaos surrounding, as you point out, one of the most important national surveys taken and taken only every 10 years. Is there anything Congress can do about this?</s>GRIJALVA: Well, the litigation was that point and the Congress says, at least the House reaffirmed through our action that everybody should be counted and that the citizenship question was going to suppressed the account, and it was going to intimidate and try to marginalize people in this country, period and we've affirmed that.</s>BOLDUAN: Do you think just the President --</s>GRIJALVA: Mr. McConnell doesn't want to deal with those questions.</s>BOLDUAN: Do you think, Congressman ...</s>GRIJALVA: Yes, please.</s>BOLDUAN: ... that even if the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, this is now - nobody knows what is going to happen now. This is all just happening today. The fight though dragging out this fight, it could very well threaten the deadlines that the administration is up against in terms of printing and beginning the count. What could that mean?</s>GRIJALVA: Well, I hope that this particular political tantrum fit that the President is having doesn't do what you just asked. Jeopardize account that is vital to representation. It's vital to resource distribution. It's vital to local communities to be able to know how to plan and how to accommodate the residents that they have. Why deny that to people and why deny that to our country in and of itself. So this tantrum is jeopardizing a real accurate and necessary count that is historically been essential for the governance of this country.</s>BOLDUAN: I also want to ask you about the President's Fourth of July event, his plan on the National Mall tomorrow. You're the chair of the committee that has oversight of the country's national parks and the Interior Department. You sent a letter to the Interior Secretary today asking for an accounting really of the $2.5 million dollars that we now know is going to be diverted to help pay for the event from the Interior Department. You call it a legal, why?</s>GRIJALVA: Yes, I really do. I think the recreation fee, the parks asked in charge of visitors is used specifically to support of those parks and those public lands that we visit and that we recreated. And diverting money during the shutdown, painful. But this one, $2.5 million directly out of that fund that all Americans paid to maintain their parks and to divert it on a use that is not prescribed for that fund for what essentially is a self-aggrandization event that Trump is having for himself we believe is illegal and we're asking Secretary Bernhardt to provide us the details, the cost, the rationale, legal and otherwise for that transfer of which I believe strongly does not exist. And just to say we're going to do it when there's a law that specifically says these funds must be used in these parks. And the reason for the letter otherwise, the whole event is - some major self- gratulatoryevent for Trump more political than the patriotic in the sense that the VIP seats go to high-end donors for the Republican Party. The event itself is about military power as opposed to talking about the values and the importance of the 4th of July, our independence, who we are as a nation, a unifying time for our country. That's not happening at this event.</s>BOLDUAN: Let us see what the President says in that speech tomorrow night. Congressman, thanks for coming in.</s>GRIJALVA: Thank you for the invitation. I appreciate it.</s>BOLDUAN: Thank you so much. Out front for us next, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris going head-to-head this hour, holding rallies in the crucial state of Iowa. Can Biden continue to hold off Harris? Plus, it is the question, one of many, that is the question, the women running for President hearing, is the country ready to elect a female president. Why is it still being asked? Plus, pictures drawn by children detained at the border depicting themselves in cages. The doctor who received those pictures is out front. What did she see in those facilities?