Key facts
- White House counsel William Scharf warned Democratic oversight pledges may cross into blatant criminality.
- Garcia said Congress's authority comes from article I of the constitution, not White House permission.
- Democrats won both chambers and will arrive in January with their largest House majority since 2008.
- 90% of voters said corruption was a crucial or major factor in their midterm votes, per NBC News exit poll.
Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the House oversight committee, said on Wednesday that it appears Donald Trump has "something to hide" after the White House threatened criminal investigations over planned Democratic scrutiny of the administration. Garcia vowed to press on despite what he called "baseless threats" from White House counsel William Scharf.
Scharf's letter warned that Democratic pledges to investigate the president "may cross the line into blatant criminality." He argued that congressional inquiries need a legitimate legislative purpose and cannot be used to punish targets or lay the ground for prosecutions. The letter also pointed to public remarks by incoming Democratic lawmakers, including Representative-elect Richard Ojeda of North Carolina, Texas representative-elect Katy Padilla Stout and Representative Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, and criticized Garcia's "Lawyer Up" campaign as intended "not to legislate, but to intimidate."
Garcia responded that Congress's authority comes from article I of the constitution, "not from the permission of the White House." He said the American people voted overwhelmingly for Democrats to pass laws to root out corruption and abuse, and accused the administration of continuing to weaponize the government with "threats of unconstitutional attacks on Congress."
Corruption was a key issue in last week's midterm elections. While the economy was the issue voters named most often as the country's top problem in the NBC News exit poll, 90% of voters said corruption was a crucial or major factor in their votes. Democrats won back control of both chambers of Congress and will arrive in January with their largest House majority since 2008. Trump wrote on social media that he was not responsible for the Republican losses and later posted an image of a cap embroidered with the word "veto."