The White House criticized Democrats’ planned investigations into the Trump administration in a letter directed at one top lawmaker.
WASHINGTON —
In a newly released letter, the White House issued a stark warning to Democrats about their planned investigations into the Trump administration, accusing them of pushing a process driven by “pettiness, hatred and an unlawful motive to intimidate” rather than pursuing a legitimate legislative purpose.
The letter, dated Nov. 9, was directed to Rep. Robert Garcia, D-California, the incoming Chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
Garcia previously suggested looking into several possible cases, including President Donald Trump and his family’s business dealings in crypto and minerals, the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, and construction projects like the White House ballroom.
In the letter, the administration said it was “monitoring abusive and capricious threats that are now proliferating from Democrat legislators,” citing public statements such as Garcia’s election night warning to Trump officials to “lawyer up.”
On Thursday, Garcia doubled down on his previous statement.
“Our job is to ensure that there are checks and balances, and the idea that the president, the attorney general, the White House legal team is trying to intimidate us is not going to work,” Garcia said in a TV interview. “They’re going to be investigated because we want to stop corruption and we want to pass laws to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche previously warned that the Justice Department could investigate if Democrats’ rhetoric turned threatening. He later acknowledged that Congress does have oversight authority and said the DOJ would cooperate to answer lawmaker inquiries.
Separately, the Associated Press declared Democratic candidate Scott Colom the winner of Mississippi’s Senate race over incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by a razor-thin margin.
Colom’s victory increases Democrats’ majority in the Senate from 54 to 55 seats, adding more leverage for Democrats to pass legislation and issue subpoenas and investigations.
The win also marks a major shift in Mississippi, which has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since the 1980s.
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