Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Democrats would move quickly to issue subpoenas to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and other Trump administration officials if his party wins control of the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
A Democrat majority would give Garcia the committee’s gavel, along with its subpoena power. He told the Hill that Blanche and other officials would likely be subpoenaed on “day one,” with investigations into the Trump family, immigration enforcement, and the Epstein files to follow.
In a separate interview with Semafor, Garcia accused the administration of using federal power against its critics, saying President Donald Trump and Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) had written “a playbook on how to politicize investigations and attack political enemies.” He said Blanche’s role is only “to grift for the president.”
Garcia, who represents Long Beach, said his party needs new rules and a new standard to confront a president he accused of trying to rig elections. He said his team is already preparing investigations into “Trump family corruption” and the Epstein files.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) responded that a Democrat-controlled House would launch “nonstop investigations,” targeting the first family and the next Republican presidential nominee.
Winning either chamber would give Democrats roughly two years of oversight authority. Semafor reported that the party’s base is currently driven more by a desire for retribution than by any wish to move past the Trump years, with writer Dave Weigel noting that no Democrat holding a gavel would want to walk away from Trump-related oversight.
Alaska Senate race dispute
Separately, at Trump’s direction, the Justice Department sued to block certification of Alaska’s Senate race in the event Republican Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) loses to Democrat Mary Peltola. The suit followed a New York Times report that Peltola-aligned operatives had recruited a second candidate also named Dan Sullivan to appear on the ballot.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason, appointed by former President Barack Obama, dismissed the suit Sunday, ruling that the relief sought was “infeasible” since many ballots had already been cast. Peltola’s campaign said no “weaponized” Justice Department would stop Alaskans from voting, and the department said it plans to appeal.
Trump has said he would preemptively pardon administration staffers if a Democrat-controlled House moves to prosecute them.
