The Trump Administration Prepares for War With a Blue Congress

Democrats know they have a commanding lead in both chambers of Congress come January, and they aren’t waiting around to get started on their agenda. The Trump administration expects the Democrat-led House to hit the ground running with investigations, and has been acting accordingly. Congressional Democrats, of course, argue that they have broad authority to investigate and that the executive branch returning the favor would be unconstitutional.

Well, what’s good for the goose may just turn out to also be good for the gander in this case. Right or wrong, incoming Democrats are gearing up to take on the Trump administration through lawfare – and the president plans to meet them there.

Investigating Trump – The Progressive Plan

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) will chair the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the next session. So far, he plans to probe the spending and behavior of various members of the Trump family, including Don Jr. and Jared Kushner. The committee will also look into the conduct of ICE.

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The House Judiciary Committee, to be chaired by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), plans to probe the alleged politicization of the DOJ and FBI in relation to the prosecution of political figures like James Comey, Letitia James, and John Brennan. Antitrust and corporate power inquiries, as well as investigations into a supposed pay-to-play pardon scheme, are also on the docket.

And, of course, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth already survived one impeachment attempt, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) of the House Armed Services Committee is looking forward to holding Hegseth accountable somehow for the US military actions in Iran, strikes against drug traffickers, and changes to military leadership.

Brandon Rios, a former counsel to Democrats on the House Oversight Committee and who now co-leads the congressional investigations group at the DLA Piper law firm, told The Washington Post earlier this week: “The investigations start now.”

“The last time around, Dems were very deliberate about pacing subpoenas,” he explained. “This time, I’d be shocked if we don’t see them in January.”

What the lawmakers themselves said certainly seems to support that. Rep. Garcia told the Trump administration to “lawyer up” after it became clear Democrats had won a healthy majority in both chambers of Congress. Rep. Emily Randal (D-WA) wrote on X that Democrats would be “passing out subpoenas like candy.” Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-NJ) said they’d “toss out subpoenas like Mardi Gras beads.” And in a November 7 X post, Representative-elect Richard Ojeda (D-NC) said he can’t wait to watch Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth squirm in a hearing room. “Time to send this clown back to the losers at Fox News,” he added.

So don’t think for a second this is just Trump administration paranoia – a handful of influential Democrats have declared it themselves.

Goose, Meet Gander

Of course, as giddy as Democrats are to engage in lawfare against the Trump administration, they sure don’t like it when what they dish out is sent back to them. White House counsel Will Scharf sent Rep. Garcia a letter cataloging the aforementioned Democrat threats and the administration’s plans to deal with them: fight the subpoenas on the grounds that they lack a “legitimate legislative purpose.” In fact, they might even cross the line into criminal interference with the executive branch, and the administration is prepared to investigate the investigators.

Scharf said Democrats had shown a “clear intent to transgress” constitutional limits and that their investigations would likely be used to “harass and aggrandize, rather than to advance any legitimate legislative end.”

Attorney General Todd Blanche said last weekend (a day before Scharf’s letter) that the incoming Democrats had “done nothing but threaten everything that’s happening in this administration.”

“The Trump administration continues to weaponize the government with threats of unconstitutional attacks on Congress,” Rep. Garcia said in response. “We are a coequal branch of government and will not be deterred by baseless threats from a weaponized D.O.J. or from the president’s lawyers.”

Congress does, in fact, have constitutional authority to provide oversight over and investigate the executive branch if there may be need for new legislation or impeachments. But the key word in Rep. Garcia’s reply is “coequal.” And Democrats’ own words, no doubt let loose a bit hastily in excited anticipation of what’s to come, don’t exactly point to a legislative purpose as motivation.

Can the Trump administration really get out of the subpoenas headed its way – or perhaps even prosecute lawmakers for holding such investigations to begin with? Probably not in the long term – but tying the process up in court can buy the president and his allies years of delay. And from the narrative already being pushed by the administration to the lawyers it’s hiring even now, that seems to be the plan.