President Donald Trump "didn't cave" on his demands for a citizenship question on the upcoming census, but instead opted to find another way to gather the information, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said Friday.
"Too many people who play lawyers, constitutional experts on TV, are not reading Chief (Justice John) Roberts' opinion from the Supreme Court," Conway told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo, noting that matters of rational, not constitutionality, were raised about the question.
Conway said it is "unfortunate" that the question was tied up in litigation for so long, while opponents still have not made a compelling argument about why it should not be part of the census.
"I think what the president did yesterday is important," Conway said. "It takes obstacles away from data sharing amongst different departments and agencies, and it compels and encourages those departments and agencies to share information."
Meanwhile, the president has said that the census is an important, constitutionally protected exercise, "so why not get it right?" Conway said. "Why not make this census supportive to the changing democracy of a nation?"
Meanwhile, Conway is headed to the nation's southern border Friday with Vice President Mike Pence and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and pointed out that Democrats on the committee declined the invitation by Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
"That is a shame," Conway said, accusing Democrats about being "unserious" about fixing the border crisis.
Crossings are down, she said, but the nation is on track for one million people to present themselves at the border "if we don't get it under control," said Conway.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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