No one seriously expected Donald Trump or his team to welcome congressional oversight from the incoming Democratic majority, but the organized freak-out from the president and his team since Election Day has nevertheless been a sight to behold.

Indeed, perhaps the most striking development came Monday when White House counsel Will Scharf wrote a needlessly aggressive letter to Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, who is expected to soon lead the House Oversight Committee, delivering an unsubtle threat.

After noting that Team Trump was “monitoring” Democratic rhetoric, the White House’s top lawyer told the California Democrat that he and his party were making “threats” that “may cross the line into blatant criminality.” Scharf added that Democratic efforts “may warrant further investigation” from the Republican administration.

He went on to condemn a possible process motivated by “animus, pettiness [or] hatred.”

After the letter reached the public, the White House counsel, who has kept a fairly low public profile since taking the job in early September, appeared on conservative outlet Newsmax, where he insisted that Democrats “can’t investigate for the purpose of inflicting pain on government officials.”

As part of the same on-air appearance, Scharf added, in reference to his letter to Garcia, “I thought it was very, very important that just at the outset we set the tone. If there’s going to be an investigative process here, it should be a dignified, lawful investigative process.”

Garcia and his Democratic colleagues have responded to the White House counsel’s correspondence by characterizing it as a brazen attempt to intimidate lawmakers into backing off their oversight plans. And while that pushback is compelling, it’s also worth pausing to appreciate the profound hypocrisy on display.

To hear Scharf tell it, he’s willing to tolerate the congressional oversight plans — a gracious gesture, to be sure — but only if Democrats launch “dignified” investigations that are neither intended to “inflict pain” nor motivated by “animus, pettiness, hatred.”

At this point, I can’t but wonder if the White House counsel has met his boss.

Whether Scharf is aware of this or not, the president has used the levers of federal power to go after, among others, Democratic officials including Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff of California, Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

And those are just the elected officials. Related efforts have targeted former FBI Director James Comey, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Jan. 6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson, among many others.

There wasn’t anything “dignified” about any of this, and Trump clearly intended to “inflict pain,” while being motivated by “animus, pettiness, hatred.”

Or put another way, Scharf’s letter to Garcia effectively argued: “Don’t launch abusive investigations — because that’s our thing.”

The post Amid complaints about oversight, White House counsel appears oblivious to the hypocrisy appeared first on MS NOW.

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From MS Now.