LEESBURG, Virginia — House Democrats, who hope to regain the majority in the November midterms, are already charting an aggressive strategy of investigating the Trump administration next year, including using subpoena power to compel testimony from President Donald Trump and launching impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California) said in an interview that if he is given the gavel to lead the House Oversight Committee next term, a Democratic majority would “absolutely” pursue an interview with Trump regarding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Garcia justified such a bold move by arguing that the GOP-led committee set “a new precedent” by deposing former president Bill Clinton in Chappaqua, New York, on Friday, about his past relationship with Epstein as part of a broader investigation.
“We want to talk to the president, and so there’s a long list of subpoenas that we will be engaged in,” Garcia said, referencing Trump.
Top Democrats on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees asserted that there is enough evidence that Noem has committed impeachable offenses, related in part to the killing of two people in Minneapolis by federal immigration personnel, to guarantee such a vote in the new year. And they hinted that Attorney General Pam Bondi could also be targeted, in part for how the Justice Department has responded to a federal law that requires the release of Epstein case files.
After this weekend’s massive operation against the Iranian government and its missile and nuclear programs, leading Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee have become even more eager to investigate Trump’s use of the military.
“It’s a long list and I confess I haven’t yet written it down because it grows by the week, sometimes by the day, but absolutely,” said Rep. Adam Smith (Washington), the top Democrat on the panel.
Democrats on relevant committees are filing lawsuits, drafting legislation, talking to whistleblowers and holding “shadow” hearings into the president, his family, and Cabinet officials so that the caucus can be prepared to pursue investigations readily if they regain power in the chamber next year.
White House officials have dismissed such talk as being driven by politics rather than actual transgressions.
“President Trump is focused on implementing policies that will improve the lives of the American people — from passing massive tax cuts for working Americans to urging Congress to prevent corporations from purchasing single family homes,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson. “Democrats have no agenda for the American people, just plans to target the Administration that’s delivering results.”
Republicans hold a razor-thin majority, and the president’s party traditionally loses seats in the midterms. Democrats have been emboldened heading into Novemberby Trump’s low poll numbers.
A Republican president will remain in the White House next year, and Republicans are currently favored to maintain narrow control of the Senate. In interviews during a policy retreat here last week, Democrats suggested their greatest impact next year in a divided government could be holding the administration accountable with far more rigorous oversight than House Republicans have exhibited since Trump returned to office.
At the same time, Democrats insist they learned an important lesson during their time in the majority during the first Trump presidency: that they can’t appear to be singularly focused on going after the president.
Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-California), who served on the select committee that investigated Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, said leadership is telling Democratic candidates that they “have to do oversight and accountability,” which he described as a target-rich environment.” But Aguilar said candidates also “have to talk about our affordability agenda and how we’re going to make life better if we’re given the opportunity to lead.”
Part of Trump’s pitch for keeping Republicans in the House majority has been that Democrats would “find a way to impeach me.” Democrats, however, have been more focused on making the case against Cabinet officials. They note that Trump’s two impeachments by the House during his first term resulted in acquittals by the Senate and that the Constitution bars Trump from seeking the presidency again.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Mississippi), who would again chair the House Homeland Security Committee if Democrats regain control of the chamber, said it would “be malpractice on the part of Democrats” not to impeach Noem, predicting that such a vote would be successful with a Democratic majority.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), who would be in line to chair the House Judiciary Committee, said that Noem’s handling of the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January at the hands of agents within the Department of Homeland Security “is undoubtedly a high crime and a misdemeanor,” in his view.
In a statement Saturday, DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis downplayed such statements as “political stunts” and urged Democrats to focus on funding the department, which has been shut down for more than two weeks due to an impasse with Republicans.
Some Democrats are calling for investigations into Bondi. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) and Dan Goldman (D-New York) sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche asking for a special counsel to investigate Bondi, alleging she may have perjured herself under oath before a House Judiciary hearing last month — an accusation she strongly denies.
Bondi said “there is no evidence” Trump committed a crime despite reportsthat the Justice Department withheld some Epstein-related files to Congress regarding the president. The White House has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by Trump involving Epstein, arguing that he would have been prosecuted by previous administrations if he had broken the law.
Trump had a long-standing friendship with Epstein. He has said that he knew Epstein socially in Palm Beach, Florida, and that they had a falling-out in the mid-2000s. Trump has maintained that he did not know about Epstein’s criminal behavior.
Raskin, who would probably spearhead any formal impeachment investigation, sidestepped the question of whether the Judiciary Committee would impeach Bondi.
“You don’t need a crystal ball to determine the things we would be working on, because we’re trying to work on them now,” Raskin said in an interview. “Impeachment, it cannot be a taboo, and we have proven that we’re probably willing to use it when it’s necessary. But it also can’t be a fetish.”
Multiple Democratic lawmakers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private strategy sessions, said several investigations into the Justice Department are in the early stages. Among the targets: FBI Director Kash Patel’s extensive spending on travel.
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee also plan to investigate an array of gifts and business deals involving Trump and his family to determine whether the transactions run afoul of constitutional emoluments clauses that prohibit the president from receiving any profit from foreign or domestic governments. Subjects of interest include: Trump, in a personal capacity, suing the federal government for $10 billion for a prior leak of his personal income tax returns, his family’s crypto business selling stakes to a UAE investment firm; and Trump receiving a Qatari plane to serve as Air Force One.
Democrats argue that investigations into Trump could yield benefits well beyond his term. Raskin, for example, said an examination of Trump’s gifts could lead to more stringent reporting requirements to Congress in the future.
Raskin also argued that the Epstein files also provide a springboard for Democrats to investigate human trafficking and craft legislation that prevents people who have engaged in sexual-related crimes, like Epstein, from evading the law.
Rep. Joe Morelle (D-New York) said his agenda for the House Administration Committee next year also would include legislation to adopt an ethics code for the Supreme Court, ban stock trading by lawmakers and members of the executive branch and rein in the influence of “dark money” groups in politics that are not required to disclose their donors.
More broadly, Democrats argue that a focus on corruption — inside the Trump administration and out — would resonate with Americans who believe the federal government is not working for them. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) has made tackling corruption a key plank in the party’s midterm agenda in a bid, he says, to help the public regain trust in the federal government.
“We need to restore some faith that people have in the system. If we don’t, in a democracy, what do you have?” Morelle said.
House Democrats are also eyeing some targets outside the government for investigations. They are developing an agenda to probe large corporations that engage in dynamic pricing and want to explore the use of data-driven pricing tools that allow grocery stores to adjust pricing on certain items throughout the day.
“If you are ripping people off and you’re also causing harm, then the Oversight Committee is going to be there to protect working families,” Garcia said.
Noah Robertson contributed to this report.
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