Within an hour of Democrats being projected to win control of the House of Representatives, the man set to become the most powerful investigator in Congress, Representative Robert Garcia, had a definitive message for President Donald Trump: ‘Lawyer up.’”
Garcia, of California, posted the message on X late on election night, before the House Oversight Democrats account shared the same two words as the official statement from their incoming chairman.
Garcia currently sits as the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. When the new Congress begins in January, he is expected to take over as its chairman.
That would give him subpoena power: the ability to legally require people, companies and government agencies to hand over documents and testify under oath. Refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena can lead to contempt charges.
The committee’s reach covers the entire federal government, making it the main investigative committee in the House.
For his part, Garcia has made it clear what he plans to do with his power. In a statement on election night, he said he had vowed to take on what he calls the “Trump Crime Family,” along with corporate corruption, abuses by the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, and what he describes as the cover-up of the Epstein files.
According to ABC News, Garcia is expected to try to interview Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and other members of the Trump family about their alleged business dealings. He has also said he wants to investigate corporate donors to the White House ballroom project.
In his role as the committee’s top Democrat in the minority, Garcia pushed for the release of more DOJ documents linked to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but he didn’t have the power to force the issue. As chairman, he will.
President Trump didn’t mention Garcia personally in his reaction to the election results. Writing on Truth Social, he noted that he hadn’t been on the ballot, and that if he had been, Republicans would have won “IN A LANDSLIDE.”
According to Axios, Trump has also said he is willing to accept the results, but even before election day, the prospect of Democratic investigations was apparently on his mind. In an interview with the New York Post published on Monday, Trump said he would consider preemptive pardons for himself and his aides if needed.
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