Democrats Aim Subpoenas at Trump’s Power Network

Corruption ranked as a crucial concern for about half of voters who backed congressional candidates in the midterm elections. Democrats now say they’ll use their new control of Congress to investigate President Donald Trump and people in his orbit. They plan to use familiar instruments of institutional power: subpoenas, committee hearings and larger investigative staffs. Trump and his White House have long denied wrongdoing.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said alleged corruption reaches the supermarket aisle. “No American should have to make tradeoffs at the supermarket while Trump is making inside trades on the stock market,” he said. Schumer is poised to return as Senate majority leader next year.

Power shifts inside Congress

House Democrats plan a broad oversight agenda to examine how Trump and his family have become wealthier since he returned to office. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, in line to become House speaker, hasn’t ruled out a third attempt to impeach Trump. Months ago, he assigned Rep. Robert Garcia of California and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary committees, to lead the effort.

“Lawyer up,” Garcia posted on X as election results favoring Democrats came in Tuesday night. The House majority gives Democrats additional committee staff and resources. Committees can oversee Cabinet officials and their agencies. These investigations will use the same congressional apparatus voters just reshaped at the ballot box.

Garcia named five priorities, including Trump family business dealings, the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Rep. Jared Huffman of California said he wants to investigate Trump’s White House ballroom and other construction projects, as well as the Trump family’s role in mineral deals.

In the Senate, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will want to examine Trump’s real estate projects around the nation’s capital and his cryptocurrency dealings with special envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff partnered with Trump on the president’s family cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial. Blumenthal also wants hearings on ICE raids, actions by the Department of Government Efficiency and Medicare plans he says are too restrictive and have cost some patients care.

Pocketbooks, promises and institutional fixes

The AP Voter Poll surveyed more than 100,000 voters nationwide. Roughly 4 in 10 said the economy was the country’s top issue, while about 3 in 10 named “the state of democracy.” About half said government corruption was “crucial” to their congressional vote. Most of those voters supported the Democratic candidate in their local U.S. House race, while about one-third supported the Republican. Among voters who named democracy as the top issue, about 8 in 10 supported the Democrat and about 2 in 10 the Republican.

Democratic candidates made anti-corruption a central campaign theme, backing stock-trading bans and bans on former members of Congress becoming lobbyists. Jeffries promised to target price gouging and push for a stock-trading ban for lawmakers. These are legislative remedies proposed by the same elected institution whose members would face the trading ban.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, in line to become Senate Finance Committee chairman, named banks he contends ignored red flags about Epstein’s financial dealings and pharmaceutical companies that have profited from ties to the Trump administration as targets. “When I am chair, they will be forced to answer to the Senate Finance Committee for their role in hurting the American people and enabling Trump’s corruption,” Wyden said.

The Congressional Integrity Project, an advocacy group first formed to oppose Republican investigations into President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, is shifting its focus to help Democratic lawmakers link corruption and affordability. Its memo urged lawmakers to trace administration actions to people inside and outside government, as well as corporations, who may profit. The article offers no information about the group’s funding or any services it provides to people facing higher costs.

What the election can—and can’t—show

The account describes voters choosing representatives, committee investigations and proposed legislation. It reports no direct action, mutual-aid effort or community-organized response. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Democrats need to earn voters’ trust and warned that investigations shouldn’t become “just a vengeance tour.” He urged lawmakers to be “careful, cautious and judicious.”

Jeffries said the “days of the House functioning like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump administration are over.” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said Trump was willing to work with anyone to deliver victories for hardworking Americans. She warned that Democrats pursuing “sham investigations and radical left policies” would work against the American people. The account says the subpoenas haven’t been issued; for now, competing claims and promises remain inside Congress, where the newly empowered majority says it will decide what gets investigated.