House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently told MS NOW that if his party seized a congressional majority, they would “hold the crooks accountable.”
Now, with that Democratic majority in hand, the question is where will the party turn first?
For months, Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees have been laying the groundwork for this moment — launching probes of members of the White House team, President Donald Trump’s family, his projects reshaping Washington, and other alleged malfeasance by people inside and outside his administration.
Those investigative efforts are now almost certain to accelerate.
In a statement to MS NOW, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland — the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee who is poised to become chairman in the House majority — wrote that their oversight efforts will “expand next Congress.”
“We already have a strong team of investigators and experienced counsel engaged in this work, and that capacity will expand significantly in the Majority,” Raskin said.
On Tuesday evening, as Democrats won control of the House, Rep. Robert Garcia was more plainspoken.
The California Democrat, who is expected to chair the House Oversight Committee next year, had a simple message for those in Trump’s orbit: “Lawyer up.”
With majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats will control committee gavels, giving them the power to call hearings, conduct depositions and issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify and hand over documents.
A source familiar with House Democrats’ plans told MS NOW to expect a “flurry” of letters in coming weeks, as lawmakers revisit unanswered questions and signal to others that they, too, could face scrutiny — including private individuals and companies.
Democrats have been offering plenty of clues about what they’ll likely target in the majority — including the president’s current and former inner circle.
In the past couple of weeks alone, for instance, House Judiciary Democrats have amped up their probe of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and their questions about his joint roles as White House peace envoy and private businessman.
MS NOW was first to report that Democrats were widening that investigation to scrutinize a luxury resort he wants to build on Albania’s cost. And last week, MS NOW reported that Raskin is calling on Kushner to recuse himself from Ukraine and Middle East negotiations.
Kushner has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have widened their inquiry into allegations that Kimberly Guilfoyle — the former U.S. ambassador to Greece and Donald Trump Jr.’s former fiancée — sought money from a Trump donor in exchange for access to the administration.
Of course, Democrats are also looking at the president himself — and questioning whether he is using his time in the Oval Office to boost his own bottom line.
The president’s 1,000-page annual financial disclosure, which he filed in June, revealed that in 2025 his business ventures alone generated more than $2 billion in revenue. That includes more than $500 million he reported earning from World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency company he co-founded with his sons before returning to office.
A House Democrat has already launched an inquiry into a reported investment tied to a top United Arab Emirates official into the cryptocurrency company, but Democrats are expected to pursue plenty of additional inquiries into Trump’s finances.
In July, Trump told CNBC there’s “nothing illegal” about the crypto venture.
While the investigations will be a major part of the new Democratic agenda, lawmakers are also expected to grapple with whether to take enforcement actions against the president and his inner circle.
House Democratic leaders have not ruled out impeachment, but they haven’t publicly embraced impeachment either. House Democrats impeached Trump twice for actions tied to his first term in office — but Democrats were unable to secure a conviction in the Senate, where GOP support was required.
Some Democrats have also expressed openness to using impeachment against members of Trump’s inner circle, most notably Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The House is already set to face an impeachment vote on Hegseth as one of its first orders of business when lawmakers return during their lame duck session.
Raskin previously predicted that even the threat of impeachment could lead to a White House shakeup.
“There were impeachment resolutions that either had just been filed or were about to be filed with respect to Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi,” Raskin told MS NOW September. “They were such a disaster, the administration just ended up having to get rid of them on their own.”
And Jeffries, during campaign stops in the lead-up to Election Day, told crowds that if Democrats won the majority, “one of the first things that we do is to run Pete Hegseth out of town.”
Trump and his inner circle are hardly the only targets. Democrats are also preparing to pursue a range of other investigations.
For one, they are poised to continue their probe of the Epstein files, including questions about the Trump administration’s handling of the release of the materials.
House Oversight Democrats have also called for Attorney General Todd Blanche to testify — and in the majority, the party will have the power to subpoena him. Democrats previously announced a review of the decision to transfer Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to a lower security prison following a meeting between Maxwell and Blanche.
And the investigations won’t be confined to the House Oversight and Judiciary committees.
Other Democrat-led panels are likely to continue ongoing probes into Trump’s makeover of the nation’s Capitol — including his decision to destroy the East Wing to make way for a ballroom, his efforts to revamp the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, his plans for a Memorial Arch near Arlington National Cemetery, and his public golf course redesign.
Of course, if the past is prologue, don’t expect Democratic efforts to investigate the administration to be a cakewalk — even with their new powers.
During the first Trump term, the White House routinely tried to stonewall Democratic probes.
An August memorandum from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel could further complicate those efforts, potentially discouraging private individuals from voluntarily sharing information with lawmakers.
That memorandum concluded that executive privilege can apply to presidential communications with private, outside advisers.
The post ‘Lawyer up’: A new Democratic majority prepares for a slate of Trump investigations appeared first on MS NOW.
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