White House steps up threat to prosecute Democrats over congressional oversight

The White House threatened incoming House Oversight Chairman Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) for promising to hold President Donald Trump’s administration accountable. 

“The Administration will not be extorted and will not be cowed by unlawful process motivated by animus, pettiness, hatred, or any other unlawful motive to intimidate, penalize, or interfere with the lawful functioning of government,” wrote White House counsel William O. Scharf. 

Scharf went on to suggest that Democrats’ oversight investigations might “cross the line into blatant criminality.”

The letter, obtained by Punchbowl News, cherry-picks statements from Garcia and other House Democrats to suggest the incoming majority will abuse its oversight powers. 

The threats are unlikely to dissuade Democrats. In a statement Wednesday morning, Garcia refused to back down.

“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,” Garcia wrote. 

“The American people voted overwhelmingly for us to pass laws to root out corruption and abuse,” he continued. “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.” 

To support his claims that Garcia and other Democrats were unduly harassing the administration, Scharf cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Mazars USA. In that case, however, the Supreme Court found in a 7-2 decision that congressional investigations into Trump’s finances, while implicating separation of powers concerns, could still be legitimate. The ruling ultimately allowed the House Oversight Committee to subpoena records from the president’s accountants.  

The letter echoed comments Trump made on social media over the weekend, calling Democrats “extortionists” for their pledges to hold investigations. 

The threats come days after Trump replaced White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller, who has reportedly been a driving force behind the politicization of the Department of Justice under this administration. 

Congressional hearings and the subpoena power are supposed to be deployed for legislative ends. While in the minority, each party has accused the other of misusing oversight powers to score political points rather than inform lawmaking strategy. 

Democrats, for example, called foul over the lengthy hearings about a 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, calling them political attacks on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of a likely presidential run.