#Mafia — oops, I meant — #WhiteHouse Threatens #Congress, Saying Aggressive Investigations Could Be “Crime”
As #Democrats prepared to begin #oversight inquiries, it was not clear what #legal basis could support the threat [there is none]. The #Constitution grants lawmakers immunity for #legislative acts.
#law #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #MafiaState #fascism
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/11/us/politics/trump-democrats-congress-oversight-committee.html?unlocked_article_code=1.PlE.SHTV.XNNC1iVCopVM&smid=nytcore-ios-share
The White House’s top lawyer has warned the #Democrat in line to lead the #House’s chief investigative cmte that aggressive #oversight of the #Trump admin “may cross the line into blatant criminality,” a threat that experts called legally dubious.
In a 3-pg letter to Rep Robert Garcia of California, the incoming chair of the Oversight Cmte, the #WhiteHouse counsel, Will Scharf, said #Democrats had “evinced a clear intent to transgress” constitutional limits on congressional investigations.
Scharf claimed that their inquiries would be used “to harass & aggrandize, rather than to advance any legitimate legislative end.”
The warning from the White House was dated Monday, a day after Attorney General Todd Blanche said on CNN that members of Congress had “done nothing but threaten everything that’s happening in this administration.”
[Letter attached in images]
The warning from the #WhiteHouse was dated Monday, a day after AG #ToddBlanche said on CNN that members of #Congress had “done nothing but threaten everything that’s happening in this administration.”
“That is not governing, that is not leading, that is not oversight,” Blanche said. He, like Scharf, once privately represented #Trump as a defense lawyer [& lost].
Taken together, the statements signal that Trump’s admin is likely to follow the playbook his first admin used after #Democrats took the #House in 2019. Then, #Trump vowed to fight “all” subpoenas, his admin routinely refused to comply & the disputes ended up in court.
But the threat of #criminal investigations goes even further than the stance he took in his first term. It indicates how far Trump is willing to push the #DOJ to try to protect…[himself]…from legislative investigations.
In a statement, Garcia dismissed the letter, which his office said it had not received as of Wednesday morning. Arguing that #Congress has broad authority to conduct investigations, Garcia suggested #Trump had “something to hide” & accused the #WhiteHouse of threatening legislators.
@Nonilex I'd encourage folks to read the attached letter, as NYT here is sensationalizing things, focusing on one tentative line out of context instead of the whole.
This is sinking down to the administration's level, as the two parties reacted with the same breathless rhetoric when the shoe was on the other foot.
In reality, this letter was the same as the commercial "reminding" servicemembers not to carry out unlawful orders.
Yes, congresspeople have used nutty rhetoric, and it is wrong to abuse congressional powers, mmkay? That's all the letter conveyed.
Trump's people wanted attention from this, and NYT is giving it to them.
