White House warns congressional Democrats: Investigating us may be a crime

WASHINGTON — Previewing the partisan battles to come, the White House fired a warning shot at House Democrats’ top investigator Wednesday.

The Trump administration is “monitoring” Democrats’ “abusive and capricious threats” to launch congressional probes, said White House Counsel Will Scharf in a letter to Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who is poised to become chairman of the powerful Oversight Committee starting in January.

And, Scharf warned, those threats may be criminal and warrant their own executive-branch investigations. His letter was shared with NBC News by a White House official.

While threats of political reprisal for partisan investigations are commonplace, the suggestion of a congressional probe constituting criminality is not.

When President Joe Biden occupied the White House, and Republicans took control of Congress, Democrats cried foul that Trump’s allies were only interested in launching partisan probes that damaged their political enemies.

But those high-profile investigations continued unimpeded. House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., led probes into the international business dealings of Biden’s son and brother, Hunter Biden and James Biden.

In the letter dated Monday, Scharf rattled off numerous examples of Democratic lawmakers making cavalier threats of issuing subpoenas. For example, Rep. Analilia Mejia, D-N.J., wrote on X, “We’re going to toss out subpoenas like Mardi Gras beads,” while Rep. Emily Randall, D-Wash., said they’ll be passed out “like candy.”

The White House pointed to Supreme Court rulings that have held that congressional investigations must be tied to a legitimate legislative purpose and must not be used to punish political opponents. But House and Senate committees under both parties have broad authority to investigate a range of matters, and they’ve rarely been stopped by the courts.

Scharf accused Democrats of seeking “to abuse the legislative process to intimidate and to interfere with the lawful functioning of government,” adding that “threats to executive branch officials designed to deter them from public service, or process designed merely to abuse or instill fear in the recipient may cross the line into blatant criminality.”

Trump himself has used his office to target his political enemies. A year ago, the president accused Democrats of criminality, saying on social media that a video posted by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and other Democrats telling service members not to follow illegal orders amounted to “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

The Trump administration failed to secure an indictment against those Democrats over the video, and a judge later found that their speech was protected by the First Amendment in blocking the Pentagon’s attempt to punish Kelly.

The president has also publicly called on his Justice Department to investigate Democrats who probed his family and business dealings, including Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Responding to Scharf’s letter, Garcia invoked the separation of powers in a statement and said newly empowered congressional Democrats will stay the course in investigating the president and his administration.

“It appears Donald Trump has something to hide. Let’s be clear: Congress’ authority comes from Article I of the Constitution, not from the permission of the White House. Congress has wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight, an authority inherent in the power to legislate,” Garcia said in a statement.

Garcia and other Democrats who will lead congressional committees beginning in January have made no secret of their interest in investigating Trump, as well as his family, businesses and administration.

As NBC News reported this month, the White House was gearing up for a defense even before Election Day, hiring staff in the counsel’s office, while individual current and former aides have hired lawyers.

“The American people voted overwhelmingly for us to pass laws to root out corruption and abuse,” Garcia said. “The Trump Administration continues to weaponize the government with threats of unconstitutional attacks on Congress. We are a co-equal branch of government and will not be deterred by baseless threats from a weaponized DOJ or from the President’s lawyers.”