They may not have the gavels yet, but House Democrats are laying the groundwork for a number of investigations into President Donald Trump should they win control of Congress in November.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. — who’s set to chair the House Oversight Committee in a Democratic majority — told MS NOW that his team is “already preparing and gearing up.”
“We’ve got a team on Epstein, we have a team on [Trump] family corruption, we have a team on DHS and ICE,” Garcia said. “Those teams are actively working on preparation, letters, research.”
The House Judiciary Committee is the other panel set to play an outsized role in accountability efforts. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland is expected to serve as chairman.
Raskin told MS NOW that “the political and financial corruption at the heart of the Trump presidency” amounts to “a civic emergency.”
“We need to go directly after that corruption, to expose it, and to do whatever we can to stop it as quickly as possible,” Raskin said.
Over the past several months, Democrats on both committees have announced investigations or requested documents on a variety of matters — offering a glimpse of what their likely targets will be in the House majority.
So far, those targets have fallen into a few categories: alleged self-enrichment by the Trump family, alleged retaliatory prosecutions by the Department of Justice, the issues and delays related to the rollout of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation files, and accusations of private corporations kowtowing to the administration.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, for instance, have launched an inquiry into Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his potential conflict of interests as businessman and U.S. peace envoy.
They are investigating the Department of Justice’s attempts to prosecute New York State Attorney General Letitia James — which Democrats have called “retaliatory,” given she has taken Trump to court — and six Democratic lawmakers who urged members of the military to not follow illegal orders.
And in cooperation with Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee, Judiciary Democrats have announced a probe of the Trump administration’s settlement with an energy company to curb planned offshore wind projects.
Democrats on the Oversight Committee, meanwhile, have already taken stabs at addressing many of the questions surrounding the Epstein scandal, including sending off letters demanding details, for instance, about hard drives reportedly removed from the Epstein residence.
They’ve also sought to review potential data leaks from the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, plus allegations of pay-to-play in contracting at the Department of Homeland Security.
And plenty more is likely on the way.
“Coming into the summer and fall,” Garcia said, “you’re going to see a lot of requests from us for information from a variety of not just government officials, but honestly, the private sector as well.”
Of course, Democrats admit, without subpoena power, these probes have been limited. But if Democrats take back the majority, they’ll suddenly be able to subpoena Trump administration officials without the cooperation of Republicans.
Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., a member of the Oversight Committee, noted that many of their requests for documents currently “go unreturned from this administration.”
But, he added, “all that spade work can lead to subpoenas, hearings, depositions” in the majority.
Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Col. — a member of the Judiciary Committee — told MS NOW “one has to go back to the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s to find an administration perhaps equally immersed in corruption.”
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But Democrats, he said, are “poised and ready to get to the bottom of it.”
Raskin said the investigations aren’t likely to be limited to just the House Oversight and Judiciary panels. He argued corruption pervades “almost every aspect of the government.” He said it would be up to “all of the committees to ferret out the corruption within their field.”
If Democrats win control of the House, one of the major questions they’ll face is whether they should employ one of the most dramatic accountability levers: impeachment. And if not, how do they explain that to members of the Democratic voter base who are clamoring for their leaders to hit back at the Trump White House in dramatic fashion?
Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight panels overwhelmingly told MS NOW that Democrats have to be realistic about the math in the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is required to convict the president. (Even if Senate Democrats have a great midterm election night, hitting the two-thirds threshold would require rounding up Republican votes — a tall hurdle.)
Several Democrats also invoked the need to strike the right balance, ensuring that lawmakers are proving to voters they care about not just about taking on Trump but also tackling policy needs, too.
Garcia said the focus needs to be on slowing and stopping the Trump agenda “as much as possible.”
“He does an impeachable offense every week. He’s not going to be convicted in the Senate,” Garcia said.
Walkinshaw echoed that sentiment, saying that while he thinks Trump “has committed impeachable offenses,” he does not believe there is “any scenario” under which the Senate would vote to convict.
“We’ve got to make sure that our agenda is focused on the direct impacts to the American people of these Trump policies, the way that the corruption impacts the American people directly,” Walkinshaw said.
And Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, told MS NOW, “Voters know Democrats aren’t for Donald Trump, but we need to show voters that we’re also for workers.”
Raskin — who is poised to lead the committee where any impeachment fight would likely originate — told MS NOW that “none of us is afraid of impeachment,” calling it a “powerful tool in our constitutional toolbox.”
But, he added, removing Trump “is a far too limited a goal.” Raskin said Democrats have to “impeach the entire system of corruption that the Republicans have put into place.”
Another Judiciary Committee member — Rep. Deborah Ross, D-N.C. — likewise noted the math problem. But she also stressed the importance of creating the “historical record.”
“Preparation can be made for every contingency,” she said.
“If it doesn’t appear that it would be successful, how do you structure it so that it makes an important mark in history?” she asked.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.