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WASHINGTON: The White House has issued a warning to Democrats over their planned probes into the Trump administration, going as far as claiming that such investigations \u2014 a standard oversight function of Congress \u2014 may amount to \u201cblatant criminality.\u201d<\/p>\n
White House counsel Will Scharf issued the warning in a letter dated Monday to Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.<\/p>\n
Garcia most likely would chair the powerful panel in the new Democratic-controlled Congress that is seated in January. Garcia warned Trump officials to \u201clawyer up\u201d as his party was on the way to stunning victories in last week\u2019s midterm election.<\/p>\n
In response, Scharf wrote that \u201cthreats to executive branch officials designed to deter them from public service, or process designed merely to abuse or instill fear in the recipient may cross the line into blatant criminality.\u201d The letter\u2019s existence was first reported by Punchbowl News.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just the latest shot across the bow as the White House prepares to square off against newly empowered Democrats in the House and Senate next year, a showdown with major implications for congressional authority and the balance of power between the branches of government.<\/p>\n
Garcia pushes back on the White House letter<\/strong><\/p>\n Outside the Capitol on Wednesday, Garcia told reporters that \u201cDonald Trump is clearly hiding something\u201d and that Democrats \u201care not going to be threatened or intimidated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth is that he needs to understand that Congress is a coequal branch of government,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n He doubled down on his \u201clawyer up\u201d post after the election, saying the White House was \u201cthin-skinned\u201d and couldn\u2019t \u201ctake any sort of heat.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have abused the American public, you should lawyer up,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a corporate CEO and you\u2019re ripping off the American people, you should lawyer up.\u201d<\/p>\n Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda to look at how Trump and his family have become wealthier since he returned to office. The Republican president and his White House have long denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Garcia also wants to look at the administration\u2019s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Other targets include Trump\u2019s White House ballroom and other construction projects, as well as the Trump family\u2019s role in mineral deals and Trump\u2019s crypto dealings with special envoy Steve Witkoff.<\/p>\n The Republican chair of Oversight says the panel is \u2018very independent\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Kentucky Republican James Comer, the current chair of the Oversight Committee who conducted a wide-ranging investigation of former President Joe Biden and his family, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he had not yet read the letter from the White House, but stressed that the panel is \u201cvery independent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRegardless of who is in the White House, there\u2019s always going to be a strong desire for the Oversight Committee to be a check and balance on the executive branch, regardless of the political scenario,\u201d Comer said.<\/p>\n He said he thought Garcia\u2019s \u201clawyer up\u201d comments were in \u201cbad taste\u201d but Democrats \u201cwon the election and it\u2019s going to be his committee. So if he gets out of line, I would assume that his members will try to rein him in.\u201d<\/p>\n Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a CNN interview that aired Sunday that \u201cthere could be\u201d a crime to investigate if rhetoric from Democrats turned threatening. He appeared to strike a more conciliatory tone during an appearance in Missouri this week, saying \u201cCongress has oversight authority. It always has, it always will. The Department of Justice, the federal government, works with Congress to address questions they have \u2014 whether it\u2019s through subpoenas or letters \u2014 so we\u2019re not going to stop working with Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing I\u2019ve said this weekend, or in the past, should suggest otherwise,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Still, Justice Department officials elsewhere were pushing back. Aaron Reitz, the US attorney in the Southern District of Texas, wrote to Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Wednesday, telling him to preserve all records relevant to his investigations.<\/p>\n Blumenthal is poised to chair a powerful Senate investigative committee in January. Reitz called Blumenthal\u2019s efforts an \u201cintent to deprive citizens of their core constitutional rights,\u201d pointing to his October letter to people who donated to the new White House ballroom.<\/p>\n In response, Blumenthal said he \u201cwill not be intimidated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump administration is so afraid of transparency and oversight that they are weaponizing the Department of Justice to baselessly target Congress in direct violation of the Constitution,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n Other lawmakers react to the White House\u2019s warning<\/strong><\/p>\n Outgoing Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Trump critic, said he hopes Democrats don\u2019t squander their new powers on \u201cstupid things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI hope they have real hearings about real things, not another Russia-gate,\u201d he said, referring to a previous congressional inquiry into ties between Trump\u2019s first presidential campaign in 2016 and Russia. Trump repeatedly denounced that investigation as a \u201choax.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think there is some real corruption there around the fringes,\u201d Massie said about Trump and some of those around the president. Massie lost his primary election to a Trump-backed GOP challenger.<\/p>\n Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., who is expected to be the next House Ethics Committee chairman, said he would not back down from any investigations because of warnings from the White House.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they\u2019re trying to intimidate, at least for me, it\u2019s not going to get me,\u201d said DeSaulnier, who was a Republican before he switched to the Democratic Party in 2000. \u201cI don\u2019t work for a mafia, a mob organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n