Scalise Tells House Chairs to Brace for Probes

Majority Leader Steve Scalise urged House committee chairs to prepare for Democratic investigations before Republicans lose control of Congress next year. His Thursday letter told chairs to identify likely targets and review how court rulings and a Department of Justice memo could affect future probes, placing congressional oversight at the center of a partisan fight over who gets investigated and who decides.

A contest over the oversight machinery

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., posted “Lawyer up” Tuesday night after Democrats were projected to win the House. The House Oversight Committee said Garcia would become chairman. He had vowed to investigate what it called the “Trump Crime Family,” corporate corruption, DHS and ICE abuses, and the “cover-up of the Epstein files.”

A spokeswoman for House Judiciary Committee Democrats offered a different account of what the Republican preparations mean: “Sounds like Rep. Scalise is asking his fellow Republicans to compile a list of all the corruption, lawlessness, and abuse they've been protecting from congressional oversight. But the people have spoken, and the cover-up expires with the Republican majority. The days of invertebrate congressional submission are over.”

The shift in House control would change committee leadership and investigative focus. But the plans described remain within congressional committees and their oversight powers. The article reports no grassroots organizing, mutual-aid effort or direct action; instead, elected officials and committee staff describe competing plans.

Targets on both sides of the gavel

Scalise told chairs to take stock of Democrats’ current and likely future investigations while Democrats remain in the minority. He asked them to identify people and entities on Democrats’ target list and examine how recent Supreme Court rulings and a Department of Justice memo on executive privilege could affect investigations.

The potential targets, Scalise wrote, could include “administration officials, programs and authorities, and external allies, including conservative partners and industry leaders.” His staff, he said, would meet with relevant committees and others to prepare. The instructions ask committee chairs to map possible probes before the next Congress begins, including investigations that could reach beyond administration officials to allies and industry leaders.

Democrats have signaled plans to investigate President Trump's Cabinet, family, businesses and allies after taking control of Congress next year. House Homeland Security Committee Democrats have also signaled plans to investigate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The article identifies no public response from Mullin.

Republicans prepare to fight back

Scalise framed the prospective investigations as a threat. He wrote: “House Democrats have signaled they intend to impeach President Trump, but they will not stop there. They will weaponize every single gavel to appease their radical base.” He added that Democrats would use oversight to “harass the President, his family, cabinet officials, and they will seek to destroy our allies,” and called the current chairs “a key line of defense in this fight.”

He asked chairs to tell him what additional tools or support they needed. “I have full confidence that we will be effective in our efforts to fight back as a team,” he wrote. The letter came a day after Scalise launched a bid to become House minority leader in the new Congress. He will face House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, for the position. Fox News Digital said it reached out to Democrats on the House Oversight Committee for comment.