White House warns congressional Democrats: Investigating us may be a crime
WASHINGTON — Previewing the partisan battles to come, the White House fired a warning shot at House Democrats’ top investigator Wednesday.The Trump administration is “monitoring” Democrats’ “abusive and capricious threats” to launch congressional probes, said White House Counsel Will Scharf in a letter to Rep.Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who is poised to become chairman of the powerful Oversight Committee starting in January.And, Scharf warned, those threats may be criminal and warrant their own executive-branch investigations.
His letter was shared with NBC News by a White House official.While threats of political reprisal for partisan investigations are commonplace, the suggestion of a congressional probe constituting criminality is not.When President Joe Biden occupied the White House, and Republicans took control of Congress, Democrats cried foul that Trump’s allies were only interested in launching partisan probes that damaged their political enemies.But those high-profile investigations continued unimpeded.House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., led probes into the international business dealings of Biden’s son and brother, Hunter Biden and James Biden.In the letter dated Monday, Scharf rattled off numerous examples of Democratic lawmakers making cavalier threats of issuing subpoenas.
For example, Rep.Analilia Mejia, D-N.J., wrote on X, “We’re going to toss out subpoenas like Mardi Gras beads,” while Rep.
Emily Randall, D-Wash., said they’ll be passed out “like candy.”The White House pointed to Supreme Court rulings that have held that congressional investigations must be tied to a legitimate legislative purpose and must not be used to punish political opponents.But House and Senate committees under both parties have broad authority to investigate a range of matters, and they’ve rarely been stopped by the courts.Scharf accused Democrats of seeking “to abuse the legislative process to intimidate and to interfere with the l...