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\n

President Donald Trump, his family and officials in his orbit are preparing for a Democratic takeover next year \u2014 even though the president remains publicly optimistic that his party will retain control of Congress.<\/p>\n

They are looking for lawyers, expanding the definition of executive privilege, briefing political appointees and reviewing oversight material from Trump\u2019s last term to prepare for another onslaught from Democrats.<\/p>\n

The moves underscore the concern permeating the West Wing as Democrats appear poised to regain control of at least the House and possibly the Senate.<\/p>\n

Unlike in 2019, when a relatively unseasoned and often chaotic White House was slow to prepare, Trump\u2019s second-term team is determined to be ready, including pushing precedent and scoring a few political points of their own along the way.<\/p>\n

Inside the White House, Trump aides started preparing for Democratic investigations as early as this spring, with the counsel\u2019s office holding private briefings for political appointees, according to two former administration officials familiar with the briefings. Like others in this story, they were granted anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes preparations. The White House counsel\u2019s office reassured current employees that the administration\u2019s lawyers will represent them in their official capacities if Congress demands documents or testimony, according to the two officials, although political appointees who have left government would not necessarily have the same protection.<\/p>\n

Still, current and former administration officials are asking each other for recommendations about who could represent them in a personal capacity if they are subpoenaed in 2027, said one of the former officials and another Trump ally.<\/p>\n

Some have reached out to Stefan Passantino, a former deputy White House counsel who is now a partner at Miller Strategies, according to the Trump ally. Passantino, who did not respond to a request for comment, represented Cassidy Hutchinson during the Jan. 6 investigations and worked with the Trump Organization on its responses to congressional investigations in 2023.<\/p>\n

The White House counsel\u2019s office also encouraged staff to be careful about what they put in writing and offered guidance about how to respond to congressional inquiries, according to the Washington Post<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The briefings emphasized the importance of ensuring that financial disclosures, ethics filings and other required paperwork are complete, accurate and submitted on time, according to a former White House official familiar with the discussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, don\u2019t give them a reason to find anything,\u201d the former official said.<\/p>\n

Trump is focusing on preserving the GOP majorities in Congress, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said in a statement, \u201cand doubling down on the progress he has made to lower costs for families, put more money back in workers\u2019 pockets, and make our communities safer than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats have no agenda to improve the lives of the American people, just plans to obstruct and baselessly target President Trump\u2019s commonsense agenda,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u2018A new toolbox\u2019<\/h4>\n

The administration has also laid down an untested legal marker to try and protect communications between Trump and people outside government \u2014 likely signaling a more aggressive approach to subpoenas.<\/p>\n

In an Aug. 10 memorandum, the Justice Department\u2019s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that executive privilege can apply to presidential communications with private advisers, \u201cso long as the communications … relate to official presidential decisionmaking, involve or reflect communications with the President or his direct advisers, and are confidential.\u201d<\/p>\n

The memo does not, however, argue for blanket immunity from a subpoena, and it specifies that Congress could overcome the assertion of privilege by showing that the information is \u201cdemonstrably critical.\u201dTrump relies heavily on a constellation of informal advisers, family members, business figures and outside allies on everything from who his next press secretary should be to where to deploy the National Guard.<\/u><\/a> The opinion could provide a legal basis for the White House to resist congressional demands for communications with Trump or his senior advisers, and even for people who aren\u2019t government employees.<\/p>\n

The administration could potentially use the OLC memo alongside the protections afforded by the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Trump v. Mazars USA, <\/i>which limited Congress\u2019 oversight powers during the first Trump administration. <\/i>The court ruled that Congress can seek a president\u2019s personal records, but it also sought to protect the separation of powers by requiring courts to consider why the records are needed and why the request is not overly broad.<\/p>\n

\u201cCombine that with the extension of executive privilege to private advisers, then you have a whole new umbrella of potential privileged information,\u201d said Brandon Rios, co-lead of the congressional investigations practice at DLA Piper, who served as then-Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 counsel. \u201cAnd when you have an administration that has shown a direct interest in taking a maximalist approach to executive authority \u2014 those two things in concert are strong tools in a new toolbox.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s uncharted territory, and could potentially create a rash of headaches for company executives caught between the Trump White House and a Democratic-controlled Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, if a CEO had a phone conversation with Trump, or if you went into the White House to present information to drive a decision-making process, the White House could take the position that those documents are subject to executive privilege,\u201d said Alyssa DaCunha, co-chair of WilmerHale\u2019s Strategic Response and Congressional Investigations practices. \u201cThat could put companies in a difficult position of trying to abide by the White House\u2019s determinations of privilege protections while also telling their story to Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

The targets<\/h4>\n

Beyond the president and his immediate family, Democrats have<\/u><\/a> a long list of officials they\u2019d like to probe and bring before committees: Chief of staff Susie Wiles, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her special adviser Corey Lewandowski, among others.<\/p>\n

And Democrats plan to home in on businesses and outside entities that have fewer protections than White House advisers and staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tying corruption to the cost story that Democrats are trying to tell. Corruption costs Americans\u2019 money, the self-enrichement, the foreign government payments, contracts to your friends and family,\u201d said Kyle Herrig, founding partner at Focal Point Strategy Group who led the Congressional Integrity Project\u2019s efforts to combat House Republicans\u2019 investigations of the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

Key hubs of defense inside the White House<\/h4>\n

As Democrats gear up, the White House is reshaping the office most responsible for responding to a Democratic Congress. Will Scharf, who was White House staff secretary, took over on Tuesday as White House counsel.<\/p>\n

The quick transition is a stark contrast from 2018, when Democrats won the House. Aides at the time knew then-White House Counsel Don McGahn would soon depart, but his replacement, Pat Cipollone, didn\u2019t take over until that December.<\/p>\n

Scharf will play a major role in crafting the administration\u2019s approach and building out a team of lawyers to respond to Democratic probes. And he will work closely with Attorney General Todd Blanche, who he worked with on Trump\u2019s presidential immunity litigation, including the related Supreme Court case.<\/a><\/p>\n

The former Trump official said that Scharf\u2019s previous experience as staff secretary will serve him well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff secretary\u2019s office is probably one of the most highly scrutinized offices in the White House, just because they have to be so mindful of every single thing that goes in front of the president,\u201d the former official said. \u201cWill has operated off of a very fine-tooth-comb process, and he would naturally take that into the White House counsel\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compared to his predecessor, Dave Warrington, who was a \u201cstraightshooter\u201d with his legal recommendation, the former official said they expect Scharf to \u201cplay a bit more to what the president wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Democrats take over, Scharf\u2019s day-to-day work would be less focused on advancing the president\u2019s agenda, and instead on preparing the administration to defend against subpoenas and investigations. Other offices would feel that shift as well: The White House has yet to announce a replacement for James Braid, the president\u2019s top liaison to Congress.<\/p>\n

Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and a former Bush White House aide, said the jobs \u201cchange in character\u201d after the shift in power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first six years of the Bush White House, being in White House counsel was the best job. It was amazing. You got to kibitz about Supreme Court nominations, and there was somebody from White House counsel in every briefing with the president,\u201d he said. After Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, \u201cthey completely had to change the office because it became kind of battlers \u2014 people who\u2019d fought in litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The effects of a possible Democratic Congress will be felt beyond the White House, too, as agencies are potentially wrapped up in investigations. Troy, who was deputy HHS secretary during the end of the Bush administration, said senior officials held weekly meetings with the department\u2019s legal and congressional affairs teams to review subpoenas and investigations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an hour of my time every single week,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s a valuable hour, and a lot of senior people are in that meeting. So it takes away time from doing the agenda stuff you\u2019re trying to do, trying to get your policies through.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump, his family and officials in his orbit are preparing for a Democratic takeover next year \u2014 even though the president remains publicly optimistic that his party will retain control of Congress. They are looking for lawyers, expanding the definition of executive privilege, briefing political appointees and reviewing oversight material from Trump\u2019s last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26973","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=26973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}