The White House warned it could investigate Democratic lawmakers after they pledged to scrutinize President Donald Trump’s administration. (Foto: Instagram)
President Donald Trump’s White House warned that it could investigate Democrats after they said they would scrutinize his administration once they take office in January. The warning came after Democrats secured a majority in the midterm elections and pledged an oversight push against the administration.
Will Scharf, a White House counselor and the president’s chief lawyer, sent a letter to Rep. Robert Garcia, the Democrat who is set to lead the House Oversight Committee. The letter was made public Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2026.
Scharf wrote that Democrats’ repeated public promises to use their new majority to investigate Trump and his allies could exceed constitutional limits and potentially amount to illegal threats. He said the White House was monitoring what he called “abusive and arbitrary threats” by Democratic lawmakers seeking to misuse the legislative process to intimidate the government and interfere with its lawful operations. Scharf warned that such actions could constitute “flagrant criminality” and lead the executive branch to investigate Congress.
The letter echoed statements Trump had made on social media suggesting Democrats could face criminal consequences for what he called their “aggressive posture.”
Garcia responded in a statement that Congress’s authority comes from Article I of the Constitution, not from the White House. He said lawmakers have broad authority to conduct investigations and oversight as part of their power to legislate.
“The American people voted overwhelmingly for us to pass laws to root out corruption and abuse,” Garcia said. He accused the Trump administration of using the government to threaten unconstitutional attacks on Congress, and said the legislative branch was independent and would not be intimidated by what he called baseless threats from a politicized Justice Department or the president’s lawyers.
