Democrats plan broad oversight of Trump administration after midterms — and impeachment is an option

The undertaking is as robust as it is daunting and spans several House committees. Majority power comes with bigger budgets and staffing levels, as well as the ability to investigate, issue subpoenas and potentially correct what Democrats see as widespread corruption and abuse of power. The dismissal of the Republican president and Cabinet officials is not excluded.

“Out of control corruption comes at a cost to the American people,” said New York Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to become House speaker if Democrats take control of the Capitol.

“If people have stolen from the American people, cheated them or misled them,” Jeffries said, “we are going to hold the crooks accountable.”

Congress has enormous ability to exercise oversight over the executive branch as part of its power as a co-equal branch of government, and a road map for Democratic-led investigations has already been established through the almost daily letters lawmakers send to the administration and in court filings.

Democrats are questioning the financial gains of Trump and his family, whose wealth has increased significantly since he returned to the White House in January 2025. They are investigating potential civil rights violations of Americans killed protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and immigrants detained and deported to faraway countries. They fought the shutdown of the Kennedy Center, launched investigations into America’s private financing during the 250th anniversary celebrations, and followed the shutdown of federal operations, including the U.S. Agency for International Development.

New questions are emerging daily, including the Trump family’s recent acknowledgment that a weekend wedding for President Donald Trump Jr.’s son was partly financed by a Russian oligarch, believed to have close ties to the Kremlin.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who is set to become chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called the problems involved “gargantuan.”

“We need to quickly focus on the forms of systemic corruption that have cost the public enormous sums of money,” Raskin told The Associated Press, “and on areas where legislative remedies are available.”

Trump’s impeachments then made history. Could this happen again?

Jeffries will almost certainly be under pressure from the far left to more quickly pass articles of impeachment against Trump, who during his first term became the first president to be impeached twice by the House. Both times he was acquitted by the Senate.

Impeaching the president a third time might no longer preserve the currency he once had. Democrats will likely focus their impeachment efforts on Cabinet members. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth already faces articles of impeachment from Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky over his leadership at the Pentagon and his handling of the war in Iran.

“We haven’t ruled out anything,” Jeffries said recently of the tools available to Congress, “and we haven’t decided anything.”

The White House risks playing hardball if it faces investigations, and Democrats are bracing for an administration that could ignore subpoenas or refuse to turn over documents lawmakers demand.

Democrats are also reaching beyond the administration and going after various companies and business entities for possible wrongdoing.

‘We’ll act like Congress,’ says Democrat vying to lead commission

Rankings of Democratic lawmakers who are in line to lead committees if power shifts begin chart the investigations they plan to pursue.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat currently on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, outlined five priorities, including business dealings with the Trump family, the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and ICE operations.

“We are already working,” Garcia told the AP.

He also mentioned Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and broader allegations of corporate corruption.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, whose jurisdiction includes the State Department, said the committee plans to investigate Trump’s international dealings, including the war in Iran.

He hopes the committee will also examine the administration’s operations in Venezuela — from military strikes against suspected drug boats in Caribbean and Pacific waters to the U.S. partnership with a private company to develop and access the South American country’s oil.

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the Interior Department and its National Park Service operations, has begun to take an interest in Trump’s “vanity projects,” including the demolition of the White House East Wing for a new ballroom and the president’s proposed arch.

Huffman and other committee members are also looking into the Trump family’s role in various mining deals.

In the final committee session before lawmakers break to campaign for the midterm elections, Huffman said that if Democrats take matters into their own hands, he plans to call witnesses, have them sworn in and follow the evidence where it leads.

“When people ask what we will do,” he replied, “my answer is simple. We will use these tools. We will act like Congress.”