Democrats in both chambers of Congress are plotting potential investigations into companies, colleges, and even law firms that worked with the Trump administration, according to a report.
Axios reported that Democrats are in the early stages of planning to use their subpoena power if they take power after the 2026 midterm elections.
Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), all of whom serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, have been involved in the preliminary discussions, according to Axios.
Schiff led the first impeachment effort against President Donald Trump as Democrats falsely alleged that the president colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election cycle.
The outlet claimed that both Republican and Democrat lawmakers believe that the House is likely to come under control of the Democrat Party after the midterms. The House has broader subpoena authority than the Senate.
While Democrats expect the Trump administration to fight back against investigations, companies, colleges, and other private citizens do not have the same institutional power to fight back against the Democrats’ potential investigations. Democrats would likely investigate why major institutions chose to work with the Trump administration. Axios said they would likely choose to investigate donations for the East Wing renovation as well as funding agreements involving institutions of higher education.
A spokesperson for Schiff noted that the senator has already filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding 12 issues, including reported sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s bank records, Trump accepting a Qatari plane as a gift, and more.
Senate Democrats questioned a fundraiser and lobbyists who were reportedly soliciting donations from major corporations and billionaires for the president’s proposed ballroom.
Breitbart News had previously reported that Democrats have weighed how to target companies should they retake the House.
“The cardinal, original sin of Trump was to decide that he was going to use the presidency as a profit-making enterprise in his first term, and I would say that Congress should have impeached him for receiving millions and millions of dollars from foreign governments,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said, “Paramount should enjoy its growing news monopoly while they have it because when Democrats win back power we are going to break up these anti-democratic information conglomerates. All of them.”
“I don’t think you can do like 100 [companies] but I think you can do three and start with that,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said of antitrust investigations. “You can’t do everything, but you’ve got to pick a few of the worst and focus there.”
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