Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reportedly can't stop falling asleep in department meetings

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, testifies at his confirmation hearing on January 18, 2017, in Washington, DC.

• Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reportedly often falls asleep in department meetings and his staff are taking care of scheduling meetings for certain times of the day, according to a new report from Politico.
• Politico reported that the Department of Commerce under Ross is reaching new levels of dysfunction, where repeated infighting among senior officials and sudden departures of experienced career staff is taking its toll on employee morale.
• Ross is also coming under fire for spending more time at the White House trying to stay in President Donald Trump's good graces rather than managing the department he leads.
• It has led one observer familiar with the department's inner workings to describe it as "a disaster over there."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reportedly often falls asleep in department meetings and his staff are taking care of scheduling meetings for certain times of the day, according to a new report from Politico.

"Because he tends to fall asleep in meetings, they try not to put him in a position where that could happen so they're very careful and conscious about how they schedule certain meetings," a former outside adviser told Politico. "There's a small window where he's able to focus and pay attention and not fall asleep."

Politico reported that the Department of Commerce under Ross is reaching new levels of dysfunction, where repeated infighting among senior officials and sudden departures of experienced career staff is taking its toll on employee morale. Ross came under fire for spending more time at the White House trying to stay in President Donald Trump's good graces rather than managing the department he leads.

Ross's bruising defeat at the Supreme Court over adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census has tested his relationship with Trump, who appointed him in 2017.

Read more: The Supreme Court just temporarily blocked the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census

Rumors of Ross's departure have circulated for months, pushing the 81-year-old Commerce secretary to handle his relationship with the White House instead of holding regular meetings with his staff to steer the department's direction.

It has led one observer familiar with the department's inner workings to describe it as "a disaster over there."

The Commerce secretary pushed back against the report on Monday morning, tweeting that the report isn't connected with reality and he blamed "disgruntled" former employees for characterizing his leadership negatively.

"Today's Politico report bears no resemblance to reality and appears to be solely sourced from disgruntled former employees whose poor performance led to their departures," Ross said.

One complaint echoed among many department employees is that Ross isn't a frequent sight at his own department, either holding meetings or boosting staff morale.

"With our ongoing trade wars and the census looming, Commerce needs functional leadership in order to be effective, and right now they just don't have it," former senior Commerce official Theo LeCompte told Politico.

Another former advisor in touch with Commerce employees told Politico that Ross is "seen as kind of irrelevant and that "he's not respected in the building."

Ross also doesn't hold regular meetings with the department's senior staff, which was attributed to a lack of energy on his part, Politico reported. Commerce officials are also trying to avoid having Ross testify again to Congress.

Ross, alongside Attorney General William Barr, were both held in contempt of Congress by the House of Representatives last week in a party-line vote for refusing to turn over documents related to the 2020 census.

Read more: The House just voted to hold two Trump cabinet officials in contempt of Congress

Democrats investigating Trump officials' handling of the 2020 census charged the administration's rationale of enforcing the Voting Rights Act was only cover for a politically motivated attempt to exclude noncitizens from being counted in the census.