With two months until the midterm elections, Democrats are laying the groundwork to launch far-reaching investigations into the Trump administration and preparing for high-stakes court battles if they win control of the House of Representatives in November.
Donald Trump’s war with Iran, his White House ballroom project, his family’s business dealings and the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files will be among the top targets of investigations if Democrats take back the House, according to conversations with over a dozen Democratic lawmakers and aides.
Democrats don’t want to squander the opportunity to act as a check on Trump if they reclaim the majority and say they have learned a lot since the last time the party controlled the House while Trump was in office. Few say they are interested in launching an impeachment process on day one, and many instead are eyeing a new tool that would be at their disposal to try to quickly compel the testimony and documents they seek: lawsuits.
I could be wrong, but I think the strategy is to take control of the House, then request documents and testimony, then when ignored issue subpoenas for documents and testimony, then when they’re not forthcoming with everything, sue. Then with that publicity focused on the administration having something to hide regarding the investigations into what seems to be illegal activity, bring out the articles of impeachment.
“We suspected impeachable offenses, but rather than immediately and perhaps rashly jumping straight to impeachment, we elected to do our due diligence and offer an opportunity for this President to address the facts of these matters. Instead of seizing that opportunity, he has ignored and attacked this body while hiding information from this coequal branch of government which exists to act as a check on the power of the President. We are left with no choice but to assume that he is in violation of his oath to the Constitution, acting on behalf of himself above all, and must be removed from power before any further irreversible harm is done to this nation, her citizens, and her allies. This is not an attack, this is not vengeance, this is not pettiness; this is an act of critical emergency to ensure the survival of this Republic. This is what is required of every elected member of Congress by our own oath to the Constitution.”
For impeachment proceedings yes, but there are already impending issues, like the ballroom construction project or some immigration cases that the Supreme Court can say can keep going because the Trump administration has repeatedly argued that the existing claimants don’t have standing and only Congress can have a say. My thought is the House Majority Leader should be able to take a lot of the existing evidence to get injunctions to halt the most immediate harms while they collect more.
Thanks. Is there a reason they can’t bring lawsuits without the calling investigations via Congress? I read about orgs or states suing the gov. What am I missing that they can’t bring suits now? Maybe they aren’t the wrong party in a super black and white way?
Again, I could be wrong, but I think it’s not really “Congress” that is suing unless the majority is suing. If the issue is that the president is acting illegally, well the scotus already said that that’s allowed if the illegal acts are official acts by the office of the president, partially because impeachment is already an available avenue; then sue/indict once he’s no longer president.
Orgs can sue, but individuals can’t sue for stuff that is generally affecting all. For example, I as an individual can’t sue just because I disagree with spending tax dollars on helping Israel or hurting Iran, but Congress could sue if they explicitly did not authorize that spending and the administration did it anyway. But I don’t think any ole member could do that, I think it’s probably either from the speaker or voted on. I’m speculating, so somebody please correct me if you know better than my guesses.