At the center of the effort are California Rep. Robert Garcia<\/a>, who is poised to lead the Oversight Committee under a Democratic takeover, and Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin<\/a>, who is in line to lead the Judiciary Committee. They are each already planning to use their potential gavels to investigate key Trump controversies \u2014 such as his acceptance of a Qatari jet for use as his new Air Force One and his family\u2019s massively profitable cryptocurrency investments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Garcia and Raskin both said in interviews they have a long list of administration officials that they plan to probe and possibly bring before their committees. But each said they intend to focus intently on Trump himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally, it’s the president’s sons and the president and the family,\u201d Garcia said, adding a litany of other members of the Trump inner sanctum he wants to hear from. They include chief of staff Susie Wiles, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and son-in-law and foreign envoy Jared Kushner, as well as former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Cory Lewandowski, who served as her chief of staff.<\/p>\n

In addition to the crypto profits and the much-criticized Qatari 747, Garcia said he planned to probe federal contracts awarded to members of Trump\u2019s family and the series of pardons Trump has granted early in his second term.<\/p>\n

Raskin, a veteran of the investigative onslaught that took place in the second half of Trump\u2019s first term, said he planned to focus on allegations of self-enrichment by Trump and his family \u2014 as well as illicit foreign influence on American institutions and rising authoritarianism in government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to be looking at systems of bribery, kickback and financial corruption and opportunities for disgorgement and restitution to the American people,\u201d Raskin said. \u201cThat would be No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

$\"After$ <\/p>\n

Asked to comment on Democrats\u2019 oversight plans, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales responded with a statement outlining Trump’s legislative achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President will continue to draw a sharp contrast with his commonsense agenda and radical Democrats who want to massively raise taxes, defund the police, and are soft on crime,\u201d she said. \u201cThe choice has never been more clear: doubling down on President Trump\u2019s winning agenda or far-left liberal policies and partisan gridlock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raskin and Garcia are forging ahead even as voters reject some Democrats<\/a> who were at the forefront of the Trump accountability effort that unfolded eight years ago. And while the preparations Garcia, Raskin and others are making now in many ways resemble how their predecessors planned ahead of the 2018 midterms, there are differences.<\/p>\n

Democrats in the leadup to the elections that year warily tiptoed around the prospect of impeachment in fear of alienating voters, and they laid out some investigative targets that did not implicate Trump personally.<\/p>\n

Once in power, though, they launched a flurry of investigations aimed at Trump \u2014 including the president\u2019s tax returns, his acceptance of foreign \u201cemoluments\u201d and later his effort to leverage aid to Ukraine for political favors. In virtually every case, the administration stonewalled Democratic investigators.<\/p>\n

Now, after two impeachments that failed to remove Trump from office and with a party base intent on pulling no punches, House Democrats are reluctant to take anything off the table \u2014 while also recognizing the limitations of impeachment as a check on Trump\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody on the Democratic side is afraid of impeachment<\/a>,\u201d Raskin said this week, adding that he considers it a \u201ctool in the toolbox.\u201d<\/p>\n

$\"The$ <\/p>\n

The larger project for Democrats if they win power in November is to use subpoena power and public hearings to provide a backbone for the accountability message they intend to continue into the 2028 presidential election season.<\/p>\n

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> emphasized the wide-reaching scope of oversight inquiries during his campaign kickoff speech<\/a> last month, in which he unveiled House Democratic midterm messaging that included a pledge to \u201chold the crooks accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone,\u201d Jeffries said, \u201cwho is stealing from the American people, screwing over the American people, or shortchanging the American people is going to be held accountable beginning on Day 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Oversight and Judiciary panels would be the leaders of the investigatory push in a Democratic House, other committees are set to target Trump as well in a bid to deliver the bold action Democratic primary votes have demanded.<\/p>\n

Rep. Don Beyer<\/a> (D-Va.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said he expected the oversight subpanel would be a highly sought-after assignment should Democrats win gavels \u2014 with a potential \u201cbig\u201d emphasis, he said, on probing Trump family corruption.<\/p>\n

He added he was \u201cvery concerned\u201d about how the Trump administration has managed the IRS and Social Security, particularly after the Department of Government Efficiency upended federal agencies last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly will exercise our oversight responsibility,\u201d said Rep. Richard Neal<\/a> of Massachusetts, who is expected to return as Ways and Means chair in a Democratic majority.<\/p>\n

Garcia and Raskin, meanwhile, have other pet priorities beyond the personal benefits Trump and his family have allegedly garnered in office.<\/p>\n

Raskin said he intends to probe what he deems \u201cfraudulent and vindictive prosecutions\u201d including those of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Leticia James.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prosecution function has been utterly tainted and the Judiciary Committee obviously can’t let that go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

$\"Paramount$ <\/p>\n

He has also set his sights on Paramount Skydance\u2019s proposed $110 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal Democrats have blasted not only as an antitrust violation but also a threat to national security and free speech.<\/p>\n

Previewing his intentions for the majority, Raskin requested a transcribed interview<\/a> with Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison in a letter last week. While he cannot haul Ellison, a close Trump ally, before the committee now as a member of the minority party, Raskin said his inquiry into Paramount would be a \u201cpriority\u201d if Democrats win subpoena power.<\/p>\n

Garcia, meanwhile, said he is determined to fill in gaps he sees in the GOP-led investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He said he wants to bring key witnesses back to testify under oath, potentially in public hearings \u201cbecause most of them were not called under oath and most of them were not called under subpoena.\u201d<\/p>\n

That could include big names in the world of finance, such as Leon Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management, and Jes Staley, a former top executive at JPMorgan Chase \u2014 both of whom had substantial communications with Epstein and met with the committee privately.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we’re going to have, in the majority, public Epstein hearings,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

The Epstein investigation is similar to the Trump corruption probe in that it would potentially span multiple committees, and Garcia and Raskin both praised each other and said they are planning to work in concert on both issues.<\/p>\n

Raskin said he doesn\u2019t envision any issues with coordination between two panels<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s enough Trump family corruption to go around,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we have to worry about that. We will just be dividing it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats haven\u2019t yet won the House majority. But top party leaders are wasting no time in preparing an all-out oversight campaign targeting President Donald Trump, his family and administration should they flip the chamber in November. At the center of the effort are California Rep. Robert Garcia, who is poised to lead the Oversight Committee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}