Democrat Says Trump Has Something to Hide After Oversight Threat
Representative Robert Garcia, the incoming Democratic chair of the House Oversight Committee, said it appears President Trump has something to hide after White House counsel William Scharf warned that investigations could amount to criminality. Garcia vowed to press on.
Representative Robert Garcia, the Democrat set to chair the House Oversight Committee, said on Wednesday, November 11, that it appears President Donald Trump has "something to hide" after the White House threatened criminal scrutiny of Democratic oversight plans.
Garcia, currently the committee's ranking member, called the warnings "baseless threats" and vowed to press on.
The dispute comes days after Democrats won back both chambers of Congress in last week's midterm elections.
The letter came from White House counsel William Scharf. It was dated Monday and became public two days later. Scharf warned that Democratic pledges to investigate the president "may cross the line into blatant criminality."
Scharf argued that congressional inquiries need a legitimate legislative purpose. He said they cannot be used to punish targets or to lay the ground for prosecutions.
The letter also said that issuing unlawful subpoenas with the intention of depriving citizens of their constitutional rights "may warrant further investigation."
Scharf pointed to public remarks by incoming Democratic lawmakers. He said Representative-elect Richard Ojeda of North Carolina wants to see defense secretary Pete Hegseth "squirm". He said Texas representative-elect Katy Padilla Stout told witnesses to "put makeup on for the cameras."
He added that Representative Yassamin Ansari of Arizona described accountability as eventually ending in jail. He also took aim at Garcia's "Lawyer Up" campaign, saying his intent was "not to legislate, but to intimidate."
Garcia answered in a written statement. He said Congress's authority comes from article I of the constitution, "not from the permission of the White House." He described the power to investigate as inherent in the job of writing laws.
"The American people voted overwhelmingly for us to pass laws to root out corruption and abuse," Garcia said. He accused the administration of continuing to weaponize the government with "threats of unconstitutional attacks on Congress."
"We are a co-equal branch of government and will not be deterred by baseless threats from a weaponized DOJ or from the president's lawyers," he said.
Corruption was a key issue in the midterms. Voters named the economy most often as the country's top problem in exit polling, but 90% said corruption was a crucial or major factor in their votes.
Democrats will arrive in January with their largest House majority since 2008. Trump wrote on social media that he was not responsible for the Republican losses, and later posted an image of a cap embroidered with the word "veto".
Over the past week, Garcia urged senior administration officials, including new White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, to "lawyer up."
Trump posted on Saturday accusing Democrats of "extortion," "weaponization" and "lawfare." He called for Democratic lawmakers' "imprisonment" and ordered the Justice Department to "look into" what he called their "criminal" actions.
Attorney General Todd Blanche later suggested that congressional leaders who conduct oversight investigations could be criminally prosecuted. He added that the Justice Department would represent administration officials who came under scrutiny.
