Washington DC [US], November 12 : Incoming chairman of the US House Oversight Committee, Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, on Wednesday (local time), pushed back against the White House's warning of potential legal action over forthcoming congressional investigations into President Donald Trump and his allies, vowing an aggressive oversight approach when Democrats take control of the powerful committee in January.
Reacting to the warning in an interview with CNN, Garcia dismissed the administration's position, saying Democrats would not be intimidated from investigating the Trump administration and those associated with the President.
"Give me a break. I mean, they cannot take any sort of heat at this moment," Garcia told CNN, adding that the American public wanted Democrats to challenge the administration.
"What the American public wants is they want us to fight, and they want us to be in this moment where we are pushing back against someone who has tried to essentially install an authoritarian system," he said.
Garcia's remarks came after the White House sent a letter cautioning the incoming committee chairman against using congressional investigative powers beyond constitutional limits. According to CNN, which obtained a copy of the letter dated Monday, the administration warned that it "will not be extorted" through what it described as unlawful congressional processes.
However, a source familiar with the matter told CNN that Garcia had not received the letter from the White House.
The letter, signed by White House Counsel Will Scharf, stated that the administration expected lawmakers to conduct investigations within established constitutional boundaries.
"The Trump Administration expects members of Congress to discharge their investigative functions within settled constitutional limits," the letter stated, as quoted by CNN.
It further warned: "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, penalise or interfere with the lawful functioning of government."
Scharf also argued that threatening executive branch officials to discourage them from public service could amount to "blatant criminality". The letter maintained that congressional investigations must serve legitimate legislative purposes and cannot be used to exercise criminal prosecution powers assigned to the Executive and the Judiciary.
Garcia, however, defended the need for congressional scrutiny and said those who had allegedly harmed the American public should be prepared to face investigations.
"If you have abused the American public, you should lawyer up. If you’re a corporate CEO and you’re ripping off the American people, you should lawyer up. You’ve abused, and you’re a co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, and you’ve abused and raped women and children. You should lawyer up. And so, I think what we have to do as Democrats is not be intimidated by these actions that the president is trying to take on," he told CNN.
Garcia had earlier signalled an aggressive approach to oversight of the Trump administration. As the midterm election results became clear last week, he posted a brief message on X, saying, "LAWYER UP."
The incoming Democratic committee leaders have indicated that their investigations could cover a broad range of issues, including members of Trump's Cabinet and his family.
Backing the incoming Oversight Committee chairman, Representative Jamie Raskin, who is set to lead the House Judiciary Committee, also rejected the White House's warning, describing the threat as "meaningless and embarrassing", CNN reported.
Raskin said Democrats remained committed to exercising congressional oversight powers, declaring that they were "obviously undeterred and unbowed and uncowed."
Emphasising Congress' constitutional responsibility to scrutinise the government, Raskin said lawmakers needed access to information to fulfil their legislative duties.
"We have to know what’s going on in the government. We need to know what’s going on in the economy, what’s going on in the society in order to pass the laws that the American people need," he said, as quoted by CNN.
Raskin also criticised the administration's response to the incoming investigations, arguing that its focus on congressional oversight was diverting attention from other issues.
"The fact that they are tangling with a bunch of freshmen on the oversight committee in a bunch of footnotes just reflects the fact they don’t want the American people to focus on their illegal, unconstitutional, ruinous war in Iran," he said.
The exchange marks an early confrontation between the incoming Democratic congressional leadership and the Trump administration over the scope of Congress' investigative authority.