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Progressive and centrist Democrats are remarkably aligned around their plan for using a potential House majority to investigate President Donald Trump: Pursue businesses that have cultivated his administration for backdoor oversight, and don’t hold back.
As outside advisory and legal firms prepare the private sector for a Democratic House takeover that still looks likely, despite the GOP’s aggressive redistricting, the target list may well grow beyond US-based companies. Foreign dealmaking by the Trump family and its allies, including in the Gulf, is also in line for Democratic scrutiny.
Rep. Greg Meeks, D-N.Y., the party’s top House Foreign Affairs Committee member, told Semafor that overseas business decisions by Trump advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff would be avenues for future investigation: “We are going to look at some of these deals that were done. And that’s what oversight is all about.”
Democrats are united around the idea for a couple of key reasons — their base is clamoring to take on Trump, and they see a line to draw between the high cost of living for average Americans and the largesse bestowed on the administration. If they can take the House, divided government is likely to stymie major policymaking next year, making congressional investigations a bigger center of attention.
Despite Biden-era regulatory actions that hurt the party’s standing with corporate America and Silicon Valley, top Democrats insist there’s no risk of blowback in picking clear fights.
“It should not be a concern. We’re going to go after anyone that’s harming the American public, anyone that’s obviously involved in some sort of illegal activity with the Trumps, or supporting things that are unconstitutional,” said California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Oversight Committee Democrat.
“We have to look at that, and I don’t think there should be anything but where the investigation takes us,” he added.
“I don’t think we would compromise our values because of what effect it might have in terms of campaign fundraising,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Judiciary Committee Democrat.
Some experts remain wary, warning of lasting ramifications like those caused by the Biden-era regulatory actions if Hill probes overstepped.
“While we often see congressional oversight of particular industries by one party or the other, we haven’t seen that same type of industry-wide impact to date. That said, congressional investigations can often feel intensely personal, and there can be lasting damage coming out of it,” said Emily Loeb, the cochair of Jenner & Block’s congressional investigations practice.
As Semafor reported earlier this year, House Democrats have already laid out a roadmap of sorts for where their future investigative efforts might go by looking at corporations involved in high-profile mergers during Trump’s first term, such as Paramount and Hewlett-Packard. The party also plans to look at companies that contributed to Trump’s White House ballroom.
While some progressive senators have discussed those plans in harsh terms, some House Democrats are signaling they don’t want to take such a vindictive approach to the private sector. A person familiar with Democrats’ Oversight panel planning said they’d never hesitate to take on “powerful interests” but that they aren’t pursuing an oppositional relationship with companies that have firsthand information about the Trump administration’s internal dealings.
“Companies that engage honestly and help uncover the facts will find a Committee interested in solutions and accountability. Those that choose obstruction, concealment, or complicity should expect rigorous oversight,” this person told Semafor.
“Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner helped President Trump end the war between Israel and Hamas and bring hostages home to their families. Their record of success speaks for itself,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, who called the Democrats’ plans “nonsense” from “attention-seeking losers.”
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After going through bruising investigative fights over testimony and documents during Trump’s first term, which often resisted Hill oversight, Democrats increasingly see the private sector as a riper oversight subject because of businesses’ legal obligations to respond to subpoenas. With the administration likely to again stiff-arm their requests, seeking corporate communications with Trump officials could be an easier way in.
It’s less clear how easy responses would be to get from companies in the Middle East. Democrats have accused Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and his special envoy Witkoff — who have played high-profile roles in Gaza and Iran peace talks — of blurring the lines between their official roles and business dealings with foreign nationals.
But the party is clearly ready to antagonize moneyed interests, should they reclaim the House next year.
“I think that Democrats next year need to get uninvited from some fancy dinners, and win over the voters, and do the right thing,” said Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas.
The Congressional Black Caucus is heaping particular scrutiny on companies like Apple, Amazon and Facebook, which signed a letter affirming voting rights several years ago but in their eyes aren’t keeping promises. The group, along with other House Democratic affinity and ideological blocs, has pressed those companies to do more for Black representation amid the redistricting scramble that’s threatened the seats of many Black lawmakers.
“We’re just holding their feet to the fire,” said the Black Caucus’ chair, Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., “They signed the letter, they engaged with us around their support for the Voting Rights Act; but right now, crickets.”
Room for Disagreement
Democrats largely agree that corporations are fair game, but a few centrists are sounding alarms about overstretching by picking too many targets.
“If it goes uninvestigated without holding people to account, it’s just going to rot at our root,” said Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, of the “historic corruption, grift, and graft you’re seeing from the president and everyone around him.”
But, he added: “My hope is that we don’t go too far down the rabbit holes, that we keep focused on things that there’s a broad consensus on.”
Nicholas’s view
Democratic leaders are loath to engage with the prospect of impeaching Trump or other top officials, but they will face hard questions about that if their investigations turn up evidence of malfeasance. For now, though, the oft-divided party is leaning into its unity on the topic.
After all, at least in the beginning, there’s almost no political downside to threatening to blast out a flurry of subpoenas, then picking their fights later.
They just have to, despite their redistricting disadvantage, win in November.
Notable
- “Some entities already have received informal warnings or requests to maintain records” from Democrats, wrote former Republican aide Michael Zona, who now advises business about potential oversight, in The Wall Street Journal.
Eleanor Mueller contributed.