TPM:

The Trump administration’s decision to truncate the 2020 census “poses a myriad of risks” to the count’s accuracy and completeness, an inspector general report said Monday.

Top Census Bureau officials, including its President Trump-appointed director Steve Dillingham, are still not sure who within the administration made the decision to speed up the count. Their “consensus” view within the bureau is that the acceleration will “negatively impact the accuracy,” according to Commerce Department Inspector General Peggy E. Gustafson’s report.

The Trump administration currently faces multiple lawsuits challenging the move. In the litigation, the Justice Department has blamed Congress — and its refusal to extend the statutory deadlines that the Census Bureau faces for delivering the count’s data — for why the Census Bureau is now forced to rush through the census’ final phases.