livingston
20×102mm Vulcan
Trump's worst political nightmare? Democrats with subpoena power
WASHINGTON - A Democratic takeover of either chamber of Congress stands to set off investigations into President Donald Trump and his personal finances, members of his family, and senior administration officials, an onslaught that raises the stakes for the midterm elections.
While some Democrats have pressed for Trump's impeachment, what would be certain is that Democratic committee chairs would swamp Trump and his deputies with subpoenas, document requests and public hearings that would bog down his administration and distract from his agenda ahead of the 2020 elections.
Already, congressional Democrats have amassed dozens of oversight requests targeting the White House, various Cabinet departments and private entities with business ties to Trump and his family.
So far those requests have mostly been ignored by the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. But if Democrats seize committee gavels, they would regain a plethora of tools to probe Trump over the next two years.
"Everything gets investigated," said Thomas M. Davis III, the Republican former chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, discussing the implications for Trump. "You spend half your time answering subpoenas, digging up documents and having your people appear before these committees. . . . Frankly, your legacy is ruined at that point."
"It will bog officials and staffers from the most senior levels of government to the lower levels," he said. "Their mission would be to stop the EPA or any other regulatory agency from just functioning, basically, until they can regain power."
Democrats are openly indicating that they will aggressively investigate Trump in a way that his own party hasn't if they ultimately secure subpoena power. The investigative requests Democrats have already made over the past 18 months are a likely template for those efforts.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, for instance, released a 38-page summary in April of their attempts to probe Trump and his administration - including dozens of letters, legislative maneuvers and court filings. Few of those have generated any substantive response, the report conceded, but "these oversight efforts help lay the predicate for action by the committee if the Democrats retake the House majority in the fall."
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee - the panel with the broadest investigative jurisdiction in Congress - was careful not to presume Democrats would regain control. But he said in an interview it was difficult not to contemplate the possibilities that would come with not only subpoena power, but also a much larger staff and investigative budget.
Trump's worst political nightmare? Democrats with subpoena power
WASHINGTON - A Democratic takeover of either chamber of Congress stands to set off investigations into President Donald Trump and his personal finances, members of his family, and senior administration officials, an onslaught that raises the stakes for the midterm elections.
While some Democrats have pressed for Trump's impeachment, what would be certain is that Democratic committee chairs would swamp Trump and his deputies with subpoenas, document requests and public hearings that would bog down his administration and distract from his agenda ahead of the 2020 elections.
Already, congressional Democrats have amassed dozens of oversight requests targeting the White House, various Cabinet departments and private entities with business ties to Trump and his family.
So far those requests have mostly been ignored by the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. But if Democrats seize committee gavels, they would regain a plethora of tools to probe Trump over the next two years.
"Everything gets investigated," said Thomas M. Davis III, the Republican former chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, discussing the implications for Trump. "You spend half your time answering subpoenas, digging up documents and having your people appear before these committees. . . . Frankly, your legacy is ruined at that point."
"It will bog officials and staffers from the most senior levels of government to the lower levels," he said. "Their mission would be to stop the EPA or any other regulatory agency from just functioning, basically, until they can regain power."
Democrats are openly indicating that they will aggressively investigate Trump in a way that his own party hasn't if they ultimately secure subpoena power. The investigative requests Democrats have already made over the past 18 months are a likely template for those efforts.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, for instance, released a 38-page summary in April of their attempts to probe Trump and his administration - including dozens of letters, legislative maneuvers and court filings. Few of those have generated any substantive response, the report conceded, but "these oversight efforts help lay the predicate for action by the committee if the Democrats retake the House majority in the fall."
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee - the panel with the broadest investigative jurisdiction in Congress - was careful not to presume Democrats would regain control. But he said in an interview it was difficult not to contemplate the possibilities that would come with not only subpoena power, but also a much larger staff and investigative budget.
Trump's worst political nightmare? Democrats with subpoena power
